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Why ‘Jake from State Farm’ Had to be Re-Cast
Have you noticed the changes being made to commercials lately?
Ever since the virus first confined me to my living room in February, I’ve done nothing but write, play games, and watch YouTube.
At first, YouTube remained the same as it always had with its endless targeted ads trying to sell me garbage.
But as the coronavirus pandemic spread into America, YouTube began to change.
The channels I watch are basically unaffected, but the commercials I’m constantly shown have changed drastically.
Marketing during COVID-19
In response to the virus, companies seem to be clambering to update their message for the times.
Instead of running old commercials while marketing agencies are shut down, they’re running newer, cheaper, homemade commercials that target what they think we want in this moment.
USAA has been making the biggest push into my regular YouTube viewing content lately.
Every day I have to watch a slideshow of stock image soldiers and veterans shuffle over jangly music as a voiceover talks about veterans being exceptional at social distancing and pandemic response.
While I’m sure this information is accurate, I’m annoyed by the tone.
Why are all the soldiers in the photos so mad? Is this voiceover insinuating that I’m not doing my part to social distance myself?
The other big player in the corona-marketing space is State Farm.
I’ve watched a lot of State Farm’s new commercials in which “Jake from State Farm” touts his marketing message over a Zoom-style video while I eagerly wait to press the ‘Skip’ button, but it was only yesterday during a particularly boring State Farm commercial that something clicked.
As I watched Jake do nothing but drink his damn coffee for the entire commercial, I realised something; who the hell is this guy? This isn’t Jake, right?
