What we see in the commercial is a couple about to watch a TV program, but it has already started. Too bad they can't turn back time.
Turns out they can. A rock star shows up in their living room singing about turning back time, and he uses the remote to restart the TV show. Watch it at this Youtube video.
But he doesn't stop there. Time continues running backward as the guy on the couch grows back hair on his balding pate -- it's 70s style long hair. Then while the singer is restoring the past, the gal's former boyfriend pops up between her and the current boyfriend. She doesn't waste any time getting reacquainted.
So what's to like about this ad? The main point would seem to be that the TV viewer can restart a TV show. But in the commercial, the current boyfriend gets a major put down. Is the target audience single women yearning for the days when they actually had live men next to them? Men certainly aren't in the target audience.
Maybe a narrow audience is the goal these days. I'm not amongst the Mad Men of modern advertising, because I think it's a shame that they can't target their audience -- single women -- without alienating men who would seem to be half of the general TV audience.
On the other hand, these days maybe ads really are aimed at narrow audiences. After all, we learned just the other day that Subaru's ads target lesbians in such a subtle way that straight people don't even notice the badges of lesbianism.
Badges? DirectTV don't need no stinking badges.
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