Intel Ad: Michael Phelps & Jim Parsons

   So recently, I was watching Youtube and there happened to be an "unskipable" ad before the video I was about to watch. The ad was about upgrading to the latest PCs from Intel. Right off the bat, I realized that the people who made this ad were able to show it as unavoidable marketing for their product. They're trying to make sure they aren't ignored and won't be forgotten, which is pretty much like how all of today's advertising works. Anyway, as I continued watching, the first person I see pop up is none other than Olympic, 23-gold medalist Michael Phelps. He is then approached by Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, who has come to assist Phelps with his slow computer problem. Parsons, mocking him, mentions that he should "retire" his computer just like Phelps, who's retiring from swimming. But, the best part is the tag line: "Yet, here is the world's fastest swimmer on the world's slowest computer." That was the point! The irony of the world's fastest swimmer waiting for his old, slow computer to load.
   This ad is particularly interesting to me for a few reasons: 1) the play on words and 2) the use of specific celebrities. By using people as recognizable as Michael Phelps and Jim Parsons, the ad can immediately draw people in due to familiarity and wanting to like said celebrities. But, more importantly, this commercial uses certain word play that causes certain reactions in viewers. By connecting an old, slow PC to a retiring, yet phenomenal Olympic and medal-winning swimmer, the ad felt more light-hearted and relatable, in that it was a joke about what people "should" be doing with their old PCs, aka buying the new Intel PCs. It was both a reality check and a pun, which makes it that much more relatable and entertaining. Lastly, word play within the tag line just about seals the deal. When you see someone as fast as Phelps still using a slow, broken  down computer, some may feel like Parsons and want to buy a newer, faster PC of their own, so they don't end up as "miserable" and "annoyed" as Phelps. But even though the new PC may be the "fastest," it may not be the cheapest. How much does it cost? It's not clear from what I saw. Plus, people like Phelps and Parsons who have money to blow can actually buy these computers. But what about the rest of us? That's where this ad went wrong. They figure out who their audience should really be.