Rate the Ad: JC Penney: High School Cinema

It's cute and makes me smile as it does a great job re-creating the BC. But I think their marketing to the wrong demo. The kids they are selling to were probably not even born when this movie came out so all the fun nostalgia is lost to teeny boppers who think it's just another ad for clothes. Bummer.

My professor always used to tell us that in order to make a good piece of advertising you had to be (1) surprising (2) original and (3) inevitable. Apparently Saatchi didn't get the memo.

I love the commercial! Excellent job by the entire creative team and the actors. I wish they had more wholesome commericals like this - instead of the crap they spew out now like the disgusting Gossip Girls campaign that promotes random sex amongst teenagers. Whoever created that should be fired!

JC Penney keeps teens wholesome (Bravo) and doesn't objectify them like so many ad campaigns now.

I agree with bekah. But I commend the director for having multi-racial characters. Kids these days almost expect that to be the norm and applying ethnic difference reveals a very real divide not only in high schools but also in our society, today. As for all the different characters of the breakfast club, I didn't really get it - all the kids in this spot all seem to dress exactly the same. There's no obvious jock, punk, nerd, etc. so there is absolutely no tension in the beginning. Kids today who don't know the BC might think that these teens are just attending a high school Gay-Straight Alliance meeting and getting along really well.

Worst Idea ever. Why ruin your childhood to sell crap from JC PENNY. Unoriginal, uninspired, unlikeable, anyone with brains doesn't shop at JC PENNY, and for that, you'll probably do great with this embarrassing add. Plus, kids in school, don't know the breakfast Club, and parents of these kids remember those kids were dancing cause they were HIGH ON DRUGS. How cute.

You can't separate the ad from the advertiser. JC Penney wouldn't be fooling anyone by trying to be Abercrombie & Fitch, or even GAP. They sell clothes for babies and grandma's too. I think JC Penney knowns their lane. Not all kids are given a credit card and let loose in the mall. Some parents still exercise some control over what their kids buy and wear. And many of those parents remember how cool the breakfast club was when it came out. JC Penney recognizes that. They know they're not the super cool place for clothes. But if they can be the acceptable choice that both concerned parents and their kids can agree is a cool enough place to buy clothes, then they've created an in for themselves.