By Matt Vella
The faux PSA is a well-worn advertising trope. Now, many advertisers are using it to take aim at the glut of technology in most consumers’ lives. Take this new ad for FirstBank. The spot, created by agency TDA_Boulder, paints a vaguely dark scene from the not too distant future. An entire family is totally distracted from their dinner because they’re all wearing futuristic headsets not dissimilar from Google Glass. (They don’t look as nice.) Pop-up ads, selfies, and games turn the normally Norman Rockwell-esque scenario into a comedy of spasms. The tagline is “get back to the real world”—which in this case consists of a banking app that is apparently pretty easy to use.
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