During this incredibly difficult time of stay at home orders and social distancing, youtubers were the first to take to the web to try to boost morale with coronavirus parodies. One of the more successful youtubers, Chris Mann, has created an entire series of parodies based on hit songs, such as Hello (from the Inside) (based on Adele’s Hello), My Corona (based on The Knack’s My Sharona), and I Call My Friends on Zoom (based on Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do). Many others have joined the field, including the Vintage Blue Duo with Dolly Parton’s Jolene and a British family performing a covid parody of One Day More from Les Misérables, just to name a couple.
Seeing how much attention these parodies were getting, businesses did not wait to jump on the bandwagon. Instead, they too created parodies surrounding the product that they want to make top of mind for consumers. One such video is advertising Carlton Draught in Australia (see video on the left) through a parody of REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling. In a world where everyone is constantly trying to block ads, the holy grail is creating an ad that people want to see. Judging by the comments on the video–such as TJ11 who said “I came to this ad on purpose, I LOVE IT”–the company not only reached that goal but exceeded it by enticing customers to actually go out of their way to see the ad. This ad is especially clever as it gives a personality to the brand. Every time that the potential customer thinks of the brand, they will picture the cheeky piano player with the Carlton Draught in the forefront on the piano. The ad portion of the video is so subtle that a customer could easily integrate it into a daily routine, such as a morning playlist. In this way, the potential customer is reminded in a gentle but repetitive manner of the brand and they are more likely to prefer a Carlton Draught over any other brand when the occasion presents itself.
What is your opinion on covid parodies? Are they a welcome breath of fresh air during this difficult period or are they taking the situation too lightly?