Everyone wants to be a rock star these days, but no one wants to play an instrument or learn to sing. They'd rather play Guitar Hero than play the guitar. As a result, the idea of being a rock star is dramatically different from what it was even a few years ago.
When Venables Bell & Partners decided that Intel employees were going to go geek chic, they put together the campaign that brought us the photo featured above. For me, this just doesn't work anymore. First off, the age of the Spinal Tap rock star has passed once again. We don't see women chasing Chris Martin down the street and most people don't really want to talk to Bono anymore. This ad relies on a parody of a parody. Do you know what happens when you try to make that happen? You get such marvelous things as Mind of Mencia, Mad TV, or the craptastic Not Another "Insert Something Here" movie.
But, I digress; back to the "rock star" brand. The image of the rock star is no longer that of the iconoclast. If you were to take some musician who makes music like the music you would imagine coming from the band in the photo, it would probably sound like Nickleback. Here's what the Portuguese think of them:
I don't think these guys are anyone's rock stars, in my poll of one Canadian (home nation of Nickleback) I found that 100% think they suck.
Hey Venables: why do you need to make me feel like a person of lesser intelligence by saying that we worship goofballs like this? We don't, and we do admire Intel for their inventions. Listen, from one nerd to another, grow the hell up.
I can just imagine the people in the room who made this ad saying, "We need to show them that we're awesome now, but not just awesome we're ironic AND awesome." Here's a tip. Next time you think you are the first person to come up with this idea, go on to Netflix and pick it up in it's best form. It's called 16 Candles. Anthony Michael Hall is this nerdy kid (SPOILER ALERT) who becomes cool because everyone thinks he slept with the hottest girl in school.
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