Kmart is known for selling cheap underwear and a having a clever ad agency. Now the company is promoting layaway in a very evil way.

Draftcb, the agency behind the “Ship My Pants” spot, continues their trend of employing off-the-wall humor in their campaign for Kmart. This time, they’ve added Satan, Genghis Khan, and a dance party to the mix to take a traditionally negative stigma out of layaway plans.

In their spot to promote Kmart’s layaway plan, “Boardroom,” has a boss and employees in a room full of evil workers — including Genghis Khan and Satan — for evil ideas to make layaway “as inconvenient as possible.” Genghis Khan suggests blackout dates, Satan offers up limitations like no clothes, and “Guy Who Always Takes the Last Donut” comes up with in-store only. The meeting is interrupted when a nun walks in, to which the boss running the meeting calmly replies “I believe we have the room until 11:30, sister.” I’m not quite sure why the nun is so unfazed upon seeing Satan in the flesh. You’d think she’d attempt to throw some holy water at him or something, at least. The spot ends by informing us of Kmart’s “Shop Your Way” layaway policy — basically the opposite of all the evil ideas thrown out at the board meeting.

November 25, 2013Howard Davidson, Arlington, MADraftcb, Kmart, layaway 6 Comments

Kmart is known for selling cheap underwear and a having a clever ad agency. Now the company is promoting layaway in a very evil way.

Draftcb, the agency behind the “Ship My Pants” spot, continues their trend of employing off-the-wall humor in their campaign for Kmart. This time, they’ve added Satan, Genghis Khan, and a dance party to the mix to take a traditionally negative stigma out of layaway plans.

kmart-satan-hed-2013

In their spot to promote Kmart’s layaway plan, “Boardroom,” has a boss and employees in a room full of evil workers — including Genghis Khan and Satan — for evil ideas to make layaway “as inconvenient as possible.” Genghis Khan suggests blackout dates, Satan offers up limitations like no clothes, and “Guy Who Always Takes the Last Donut” comes up with in-store only. The meeting is interrupted when a nun walks in, to which the boss running the meeting calmly replies “I believe we have the room until 11:30, sister.” I’m not quite sure why the nun is so unfazed upon seeing Satan in the flesh. You’d think she’d attempt to throw some holy water at him or something, at least. The spot ends by informing us of Kmart’s “Shop Your Way” layaway policy — basically the opposite of all the evil ideas thrown out at the board meeting.

“Boardroom” is worth a quick chuckle, even if it’s not quite as funny as the “Ship My Pants” spot, and should gain Kmart some visibility. And we all know Kmart needs all the help it can get. Maybe that nun can pray for them, too.