Loading ...The Breakfast Club is one of the best movies ever made, but the older I get, the more I realize younger generations probably have no idea who John Hughes is, let alone the reasons why his film about 5 high schoolers was so revolutionary. That being said, I’m not sure this new commercial by JC Penny is the way to teach them.
For some reason, this homage to the original film pisses me off. I can’t quite figure out why. Maybe because I can’t see anyone except the original cast members doing those awkward library dances. Maybe it’s hearing that iconic song totally misused. Or maybe there’s just something inherently wrong with turning a beloved film into a vehicle for consumerism.
What do you think? Smart advertising, or wrong in every way?
20 Comments
oh how blasphemous. I love that movie and I happen to know that my brothers generation to whom this is marketed does not get the reference. Bad Pennys bad.
Ow. My soul.
Yes! My friends and I all hate this commercial. The Breakfast Club is a great movie, and this totally does bastardize it! I mean, they don’t even have five characters…they just have a bunch of kids in (ugly) JC Penney clothes doing iconic scenes. I can’t put my finger on exactly why it’s so horrible either, but I totally agree. The tweens that they’re advertising to probably haven’t even ever seen The Breakfast Club. Sad. Very sad.
I totally agree. The kids in that commercial have probably never even seen that movie. I love love love The Breakfast Club and it sucks that JC Penneys had to go and ruin it.
I’m so glad other people feel this way. I thought I was just being old and crotchety.
Now I want to watch Breakfast Club.
Definitely don’t like the commercial. That movie is a classic, and JC Penney…isn’t.
i actually don’t think the commercial’s that bad, but i definitely don’t think the kids they’re marketing to will realize/care that the idea came from the breakfast club, which is sad.
It’s worse than making Audrey Hepburn dance for skinny jeans, but not as bad as resurrecting the corpse of Orville Redenbacher to hock popcorn with an MP3 player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn4p213Zg8
JC Penny is not marketing their clothes to tweens with this ad. They are pandering to the parents that buy the clothes.
Well, this commercial just ruined the movie for anyone who’s never seen it. But I kinda get the connection, The Breakfast Club is about different types of kids; Jock, Preppy, Geeky, Weird, and… well… whatever Judd Nelson was supposed to be, and how they all came together as one. So their message is that they are a store for everyone, and they have something that will fit your style no matter what it is, and they are connecting the world under one store. So it’s kinda a good idea. But it was really stupid at the same time.
I agree with everyone. I was disgusted when I saw this movie, it is one of my favourites and think J.C. Penny is the worst company to try and advertise this way as they failed to truly capture any of the characters.
I’m so glad everyone agrees! I saw this the other day and though “Who the F do these people think they are?” Blasphemous, totally blasphemous.
These commercials are physically painful. If they’re catering to the parents who are buying the clothes aren’t they risking alienating said parents?
I kind of thought it was cool. I mean, The Breakfast Club came out before I was born and if this site is catering to the college age, then most of its readers will not have been old enough to fully appreciate the movie when it first came out. And yet, somehow we all have this protective feeling over it. How can we really say that the teens and tweens of today can’t appreciate one of the most iconic teen movies ever? Shouldn’t the people 15+ years older than we are say the same about us?
SomeAudioGuy:
That Orville commercial scares the shit out of me. JC Penny is tame compared to it, but I still cannot stand it.
This ad just made me feel bad inside… why would they blaspheme so?
The first thought I had when I saw this commercial is that they were going to do some horrible remake of The Breakfast Club starring the kids from High School Musical. That a remake seemed totally plausible to me is in itself a problem.
I personally am of the “younger generation” you’re talking about and The Breakfast Club is my FAVORITE movie. It is indeed iconic, and there’s no reason that the commercial is so horrible. It will make kids wonder what they’re immitating and eventually bring the movie back.
I think anyone who has ever seen the movie (and therefore anyone who would understand this commercial in the least bit) would hate it. It’s just bad, bad stupid commercial. A previous poster noted that most of us were young or unborn at the time, yet we still cherish it. So I think the same would be said for tweens, although when I was that age I definitely didn’t care about keeping good things good, or anything like that…
Most effective way to piss THIS household off, ever. Well done, JCP.
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