You would think that flames shooting out of a human’s mouth in a TV commercial would be funny, and it is.
You might also think that a flame shooting out of a human’s mouth is a predictable way to promote sandwiches called the Flame Thrower Chicken Sandwich and the Flame Thrower GrillBurger at Dairy Queen, and you’d be right. But it’s a good way.
If by some chance you’re wondering whether I’m a sucker for flame-spewing humans and think the ad is hilarious, I am and I do.
The spot, created by Grey Worldwide of New York, promotes those two sandwiches, primarily the new chicken variety. The burger gets a quick promotional push at the end of the spot.
The spot opens on two men and a woman seated at a table eating the chicken sandwiches. They’re talking, but in strangled voices because they can’t exhale.
“This Flame Thrower Chicken Sandwich is amazing,” one man says.
“Yeah, but why do we have to inhale while we talk?” the woman asks.
“Trust me,” the other guy says. “If you exhale, flames will shoot out of your mouth.”
“What?” the woman asks, inhaling.
OK, wait for it. The first guy says, “He said—”
But he exhales, and it’s true: Flames shoot out of his mouth.
Mayhem ensues as all three of them panic, and the flames shoot freely from their mouths. Oddly enough, the other diners don’t seem to be too concerned with what’s going on.
I didn’t laugh so hard that my socks unraveled down to my ankles, but there aren’t many humorous ads that do that to me. Yet this one is funny, and humor is the proper vehicle for illustrating the taste of the product.
Let’s face it: If you name a sandwich the Flame Thrower, you can’t get tremendously serious in a commercial for it. And what is the proper way to depict the actual throwing of flames? That’s what I asked myself while watching the spot.
Would a fire-breathing dragon do the trick? No, that’s a cliché.
Dressing an actor as a soldier wielding one of those Army flamethrowers would be too aggressive because those things can hurt people.
Whatever flames are thrown during the commercial should not be allowed to do any harm. After all, the spot is for a spicy sandwich that’s supposed to be fun to eat, not for demonstrating the destructive power of fire.
That’s the problem I had with Dairy Queen’s previous spot for the Flame Thrower GrillBurger, which was introduced in 2004.
The spot opens on a man in his office eating the burger, and then the flames shoot out of his mouth. Things get quickly out of hand. The man sets papers on fire and then his desk, and then the fire sprinklers come on and drench him and his office mates.
There was too much going on in that spot, too many things on fire. The product focus was nearly lost.
Both spots are the type that viewers either want to watch again and again or leave the room when they come on. I like watching the current one over and over because it’s still funny on the third and fourth viewing. I got a little tired of the first one.
The current spot focuses on the product better than the first one did.
All of that flame spewing and fire breathing is designed to show how spicy the sandwich is. Though there’s no getting around the fact that flames shooting out of a person’s mouth can be distracting, viewers won’t miss the point that the Flame Thrower is a spicy sandwich, and it’s probably best to eat it with your mouth closed.
