In this article:
- TikTok encourages remakes of classic ads
- Some work well, but others seem to miss the center that really distinguished the original
Some films achieve classic status, and any remakes will suffer by comparison. Now we learn that the same can be said of some commercials.
Morning Brew just published TikTok remakes ads of yore that look at three “updates” of popular ads made for the platform. In my view, they work for two of them:
- “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” the 2010 Old Spice commercial starring Isaiah Mustafa. The TikTok version shows Munya Chawawa as the leading man.
- The adaption of Snickers commercial, “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry,” that appeared during Super Bowl 2010 in which Ross Smith has his own grandmother take on Betty White’s role.
But where it completely misses, in my estimation is the attempt to recreate the 2007 Skittles commercial called “Touch” that really was itself an update of the legend of the Midas touch.
The man who turns everything he touches into Skittles is frustrated by it, just as King Midas was. He mentions not being able to hold his own baby, for fear of turning it into Skittles, an allusion to the part of the myth in which Midas ended up turning his daughter into a golden statue.
This context of classic myths is completely lacking in the TikTok versions of the touch:
@maddiwinternot me dissolving an entire building🙃 #SKITTLEStouch #tiktokremake #ad♬ skittles touch official skittles – skittles
These show only limited things turning into Skittles, which just makes it exciting and fun. There is absolutely no sense of recognizing the curse of what might appear to be pure wish-fulfillment, echoing the Greek myth origins, in the original commercial.
Of course, the TikTok will still succeed in showcasing the candy and associating it with the fantasy of getting Skittles at will. But they show no awareness of the true origin of the transformation effected by touch.
What was clever in the original commercial is now just a gimmick — all body with no soul. Indeed, User-Generated Content is a fantastic way to strengthen connections with customers, but it can easily go wrong.
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