Our favorite fictional characters are sneaking into commercials

Masters MacDonald and Lapointe d’Indefensible For Desjardins Insurance, Mother Isabelle Eye of the storm And connected home security system from Telus, Rogatien promotes Intact Insurance discounts and Francois from Discussions with my father Insistence with his father in the car for SAAQ: Our TV personalities sneak into ads.

It’s hard not to smile when you see Leo MacDonald, the star lawyer of the series indefensible, He drinks salsa straight from the bowl and waxes his eyebrows in his car because he feels comfortable in these places secured by Desjardins Assurances (whose motto is “A place where you can be yourself”).

We also laugh when François Morency’s father tells his son at length why he is too tired to drive in the SAAQ preventative ad against fatigue while driving. Just like when Ti-Mé is from Small life Calls us to recycle in Recyc-Québec ads.

Attachment to characters

Part of the reason the trend of using TV show characters in advertisements works so well is that these characters are specific, known, and loved by viewers.

When we look at the daily Indefensible The ad shows the characters of Leo or Andre, and becomes less intrusive. “We stay in the world of the chain which leads to a smaller break. This is a more suitable terrain to get the message across,” said Bernard Motulsky, professor at UQAM’s Department of Social and Public Communication.

For him, you need archetypal personalities to relate to so you can associate them with accurate values. Effectiveness comes down to the type of character we’ve chosen and the idea that he or she is a good fit for the message.

Thus, teachers MacDonald and Lapointe inspire confidence, strength, and goodness. Isabelle from Eye of the storm It represents the warmth and protection of the mother of the family, while François and his family Discussions with my father They were able to deliver prevention messages through their comedic discussions.

A sign that the campaign is working? The concept returns with other characters from the series or with the same character in a new situation.

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Reducing risks

For Luc Dupont, a professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Ottawa, the idea of ​​using a persona reduces some of the risks that come with being associated with a star.

“Advertising in 2023 is more risky and brands are more cautious about employing personalities who can, for example, make flippant statements. “We are in an environment more exposed than before to social media and public opinion that is often unstable,” he explains.

Going through popular culture, through these characters we already like, is, in his opinion, a good strategy.

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In this sense, well-known actors have every interest in conveying a message that does not conflict with their own values. Knowing that Christine Beaulieu is an environmentalist, it makes sense to find her in an ad for a connected home security system rather than an ad for a gasoline-powered car. Here the values ​​that stick to the actress’s skin are mixed with the values ​​of Isabelle, her character.

However, Rogatian, the famous taxi driver played by Patrick Howard, could be an exception; Larger than life, he can allow himself to say almost anything to sell us assurances, without us holding them against the actor hiding behind them.

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