The biggest shock on Super Bowl Sunday? Jack Box, fictional CEO and mascot for the Jack in the Box fast food restaurant chain, was hit by a bus.
My friends and I shared collective gasps and “OMG”s as we watched Jack’s signature yellow-cone hat spin feebly across the sidewalk and bystanders in the commercial rush over to help. Jack looked more like a defeated Humpty Dumpty, with his head cracked in several places and little X’s for eyes. The commercial ends with sirens blasting, the screen fading to black, and directions to HangInThereJack.com.
Worried as I am about Jack, I think that this is one of the most genius advertising campaigns I have ever seen. With the accessibility of the Internet, multiple social sites, and a little bit of humor, Jack in the Box is utilizing the power of advertisements that go beyond ads in the newspaper.
I couldn’t even get onto the Web site for hours after the commercial aired, presumably because millions crashed the server. When I finally got through, I found one link to a Facebook page where one can read updates on Jack’s medical condition.
Several videos are posted, and one is from a surgeon, Dr. Robert Connolly, informing us, “He has massive head trauma. And I don’t mean that he has a massive head … although he does.”
There’s even an official statement that says, “In lieu of sending flowers, please order anything on the menu, anytime of day. Jack would want it that way.”
And it isn’t even the first time they’ve attempted to off Mr. Box.
When I called home that night and asked my dad if he had seen the commercial, I was surprised at his reaction.
“When us older people saw Jack get hit by the bus, we were reminded of the old campaign where they blew Jack up. We’re going so crazy. You can’t kill Jack again!”
Back in the 1980s, Jack’s head would be on top of the speaker box of the drive-through, and for a new ad campaign they used dynamite to blow him up. It was part of a move to make the restaurant focus less on fast food and become more mature; apparently a clown was not part of the plan.
“It was so unpopular,” my dad added. “We didn’t think that was cool.”
A bus isn’t as extreme as dynamite, but now that I know this isn’t Jack’s first run-in with death, I’m even more impressed that Jack in the Box has taken what could have been another unpopular concept and instead made it interactive and entertaining.
There are reaction videos on YouTube. Mourners are commenting on the official site. You can even mail get-well cards to Jack in San Diego.
A conspiracy theory has also appeared on the Facebook group that has been trying to figure out who was driving the bus. His true identity is now “revealed” on another video, but conspiracy suspects still range from the Hamburglar and Wendy to Jack Bauer working for Taco Bell.
With these various outlets, every new hit on the Web site and each downloaded video is representative of a potential customer. All someone has to do is navigate to the official Web site, be sidetracked by the menu, and decide to head there for his next meal.
While I don’t even like Jack in the Box food that much, I plan to follow everything that happens; no other restaurant could adopt this sort of campaign. No one else has a mascot with Jack’s cool attitude when it comes to finding new customers.
Imagine an ad campaign like this with Ronald McDonald, and then imagine how kids would react. Think of the outcry from animal rights groups if the Taco Bell chihuahua had met any sort of harm. And if they blew up the Burger King, I’d actually be relieved; he’s sort of creepy.
It’s going to take weeks for Jack to recover, because I’m sure it’s going to take weeks for all the content that has been created to play out. But I’m confident that Jack is going to make a full recovery. He has to: Funerals are too expensive for an ad campaign.
If you plan to text Jack well-wishes, then e-mail Louth at klouth@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.