Sad commercials are a challenge, though occasionally self-aware. Check out this example:
Someone carries an old lamp out of an apartment and leaves it on the street, next to a trash can. A mighty wind gushes, rocking the little lamp. It seems to shiver, even whimper. Night falls and rain pours. A yearning, melancholy piano is heard throughout.
The little lamp stands alone, facing the building it was just removed from. Suddenly, a light from the window of the cozy apartment it left: a new lamp has taken its place. The scene could not be any more tragic.
The little lamp stays on the street. A disheveled man jumps into the frame, abruptly: “Many of you feel bad for this lamp,” he says. “That is because you’re crazy. It has no feelings. And the new one is much better.”
The Ikea logo appears. The commercial ends.
If you prefer to watch a video instead, click here:
This post has been updated in August 2021.
The Use of ‘Sadvertising’
This memorable Ikea commercial from 2002 is a classic example of ‘sadvertising’, albeit with an ironic twist, which breaks the fourth wall and draws attention to the melodrama. Sad commercials like this one (though without the irony) are profusely used in advertising.
How does one go about creating sad commercials? Most importantly though, should they even be used? Are they worth it? Or do we risk alienating our audience, indeed inviting parody, even ridicule?
What are Sad Commercials?
We could define ‘sad commercials’ as commercials which generate feelings of sadness in the viewer and, in the case of audio ads, the listener.
These feelings of sadness may be organic to the story being told by the commercial. They may, however, be created by design. This is where things begin to get tricky.
To truly understand sad commercials we have to begin by looking at storytelling in general.
On Storytelling
Robert McKee, the writing coach immortalized by Brian Cox in the film ‘Adaptation’, states that a typical story uses causality, a closed ending, linear time, external conflict, and a single protagonist, who is usually active and propels the story forward. This classic design is used in several forms of content. Even advertising, in spite (or perhaps because of) its pithiness uses this traditional, classic form of storytelling. Traditional storytelling allows us to create stories that ring true. They may very well be completely fictional but are so elegantly put together, that they seem real, indeed more real than real life itself. Such an approach is the opposite of phoniness.
Famous acting coach Konstantin Stanislavski probed his actors with a question: “Are you in love with the art in yourself or yourself in the art?” What he meant was ‘are you in love with the truth in yourself and want to express that or are you willing to be phony to get what you want?’
Such dualism, between storytelling and phoniness, between truthfulness and phoniness, is a running theme for any artist. It is the dualism that separates the artist from the hack. The study of melodrama will illuminate this dualism between the search for truth vs. phony spectacle and what this means when crafting sad commercials.
Melodrama
We have all watched soap operas. The drama, the fights, the incredible highs, and miserable lows that the characters are constantly put through. Soap operas and ‘telenovelas’ around the world and even some reality shows are good examples of melodrama.
Robert McKee writes in his book ‘Story’: “Melodrama is not the result of overexpression, but of under motivation; not writing too big, but writing with too little desire. The power of an event can only be as great as the sum total of its causes. We feel a scene is melodramatic if we cannot believe that motivation matches action.”
The reason why soap operas and some sad commercials are considered melodramatic and phony is precisely because they under-motivate and then overexpress. Consider the earlier example of the Ikea commercial. Is it melodramatic? In essence, it is, because as the disheveled man at the end points out the lamp is just a lamp.
What about animated television or film? Was Wall-E ‘just a machine’, for example? We still felt sad for him, and rightly so. These objections are very accurate. The magic of animation creators like Pixar is that they are able to produce stories that are truly sad, which in the hands of others would be mocked. How do they achieve this? Can we create sad commercials that work? How can we avoid melodrama and phoniness?
Organic Commercials
The way to craft sad commercials, or television or even films is to create stories organically. The creator of soap operas writes purely for effect, but a story must create feelings of empathy and sadness organically. How can we do this? By learning to write a good yarn.
Sad commercials must be rooted in good storytelling first and foremost. If the story does not create the desired effect (ie: feelings of sadness in sad commercials) then it is back to the drawing board. Avoid, at all costs, the temptation to simply throw in more and more ‘sad stuff’ to see if it sticks. It will not. Refuse spectacle for the sake of spectacle and look for the truth of the subject matter.
All this sounds well in theory but let us try to apply it in practice. Let us craft a fictional sad commercial ourselves.
Mission: Sad Commercial
- “Bunny Studio Sad Commercial”
- Client: ‘Forgotten K-9’ Dog Shelter
- Writer: Ignacio S
- :30 Audio Ad
- Prepare
- Audience: People who are looking for a dog.
- Purpose:
- Benefit: The listener and potential client will find a wonderful dog in need of a home.
- Reaction: We want the listener and potential client to forget about buying a puppy and instead adopt a dog from the shelter.
- Type: Audio Ad to appear in several platforms. The audio ad will be targeted to people who may be looking for puppies in the area.
- Time: 30 seconds.
- Deliver
- Format: Traditional Script.
- Wording and Tone: Sad commercial.
- Hook.
- Call to Action.
- Ending.
Crafting the Commercial
As you can probably tell, there are several ways in which this commercial could fail. There are several possible outcomes:
Example 1
The commercial is sad but unintentionally funny too. Like a soap opera, the approach is too heavy-handed and invites ridicule.
Imagine something like this:
SFX: SAD LONE VIOLIN
SFX:WOOF WOOF
NARRATOR: Dogs are man’s best friend.
SFX:SAD LONE VIOLIN
SFX:WOOF WOOF
NARRATOR. But what happens when man’s best friend…
SFX:SAD LONE VIOLIN
SFX:WOOF WOOF
NARRATOR: Does not have a friend to play with…
SFX:SAD LONE VIOLIN
SFX:WOOF WOOF
SFX:SOUND OF DOG HOWLING AT THE MOON
SFX:SAD LONE VIOLIN
SFX:SOUND OF SEVERAL DOGS HOWLING AT THE MOON
NARRATOR: Make a friend today. Adopt a dog. Click on the banner or visit forgottenk9.com
SFX:SOUND OF HAPPY DOG BARKING
SFX:HAPPY ACCORDION
SFX: SOUND OF MANY HAPPY DOGS BARKING
SFX: HAPPY ACCORDION
Example 2
Alternatively, the commercial may fail by not transmitting any feeling of sadness. An opportunity is lost to get people to adopt shelter dogs. The ‘Forgotten K-9’ Shelter client is unhappy because they wanted a sad commercial.
NB: The use of this soundtrack would probably cost a fortune, but you get the idea. The commercial is not sad, in fact, the emotions transmitted are all over the place:
NARRATOR: There are millions of stray abandoned dogs in the world.
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’
NARRATOR: And yet you want to buy a new puppy?
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’
NARRATOR: Really?
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’
NARRATOR: Adopt an abandoned dog.
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’
NARRATOR: Get off that couch and come adopt dogs today.
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’ AT HIGHER VOLUME
NARRATOR: Click on the banner or visit forgottenk9.com
SFX: SOUND OF RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ‘GUERILLA RADIO’ AT FULL BLAST
Example 3
The commercial is sad and does work. Its sadness is organic to the story: it is real and rooted in truthfulness. To achieve this we have to brainstorm the idea and try to find the kernel of truth to it.
Brainstorming for Truth:
We want people to feel sadness and adopt dogs. But what does this mean, really? Well, instead of forcing emotions, like in the first example, or of condemning and shaming into action, like in the second one, let us go deeper.
What we really want to do is to get the listener to empathize. Moreover, we want him or her to imagine being in the shoes of someone adopting a dog.
Ok, what about this: Imagine a child talking about his dog, that he adopted from the shelter. Ideally, we could look for a real family who indeed adopted from this shelter in real life and make a simple recording of this kid talking about his dog. Then we could proceed to build the audio ad around it.
The result is an audio which is sad, yes, but hopeful. Poignant and empathetic are good ways to describe it. It is an audio ad which could work well because it is based on the truth of the subject matter.
SFX: INSPIRING SIMPLE PIANO TUNE
NARRATOR: Hi, I’m Toby. I’m six.
SFX: INSPIRING SIMPLE PIANO TUNE
NARRATOR: My parents got Riley from the shelter one year ago, for my birthday.
SFX: INSPIRING SIMPLE PIANO TUNE
SFX: RILEY BARKING
NARRATOR: He loves to play fetch.
SFX: SOUND OF RILEY AND TOBY PLAYING: ‘GO FETCH RILEY’ ‘FETCH’
SFX: RILEY BARKING
NARRATOR: And eating treats.
SFX: SOUND OF DOG BARKING, OF TOBY AND HIS PARENTS, LAUGHTER, AND ENJOYMENT
NARRATOR: To adopt more dogs like Riley, in need of a home, click on the banner or visit forgottenk9.com
SFX: INSPIRING SIMPLE PIANO TUNE
Sad Commercials in a Nutshell
Crafting sad commercials is a challenge. The risk is crafting a commercial which is sad but melodramatic, thus inviting ridicule. There is also the chance of creating a commercial which does note evoke sadness at all.
The key is to write organically. Good storytelling comes first and foremost. This means creating sad commercials like we would a more complex form of story.
Finding the truth of the subject matter and rendering it dramatically is essential. The idea is to make the sadness feelings rooted in the truthfulness of the story (be that a real situation or a dramatic and artistic ‘truth’). Consider contacting Bunny Studio for expert assistance in creating this type of audio ad.
Remember: do not just craft sob-stories. Wow the world with real emotion.
Good Luck!
Create your sad commercial today with Bunny Studio.
