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CREATIVITY

In new Mint Mobile ad, Ryan Reynolds proves that he can make even a PowerPoint funny

The star’s meta-advertising streak continues—and it still works! This is one of the best pandemic ads so far, without ever actually mentioning the pandemic.

BY Jeff Beer1 minute read

Ever wonder what Ryan Reynolds’s desktop looks like?

If this new Mobile Mint ad is any indication, it’s just as cluttered and chaotic as anyone else’s.

Here Reynolds takes a break from making high school commencement speeches and surprising hospitalized children to make one of the best pandemic ads so far, without ever actually mentioning the pandemic. Of course, as Reynolds points out, before sheltering at home and social distancing, he’d been in the midst of shooting a truly epic ad for the discount mobile carrier, which he joined last November as an owner.

Instead, we get an elaborate PowerPoint of blockbuster proportions.

In true Reynolds fashion, the spot is just jokes on jokes on jokes. His desktop includes folders for sequels to past Reynolds flicks Just Friends and Van Wilder, as well as “Thoughts on time travel” and “FavRoyal Canadian Horses.” He also pie-charts his own filmography, breaking it down by Plot Holes (60%), Nobody Saw (27%), Made Some Sense (10%), and French Translation Landed (3%).

Most of Reynolds’s marketing prowess has been channeled into his work for Aviation Gin. He continues to push his particular brand of meta-advertising—commercials acknowledging the absurdity of ad culture—beyond Deadpool and gin and now into the sexiest of consumer categories: telecommunications.

When the most recognizable mobile ad personality is the Can You Hear Me Now? Guy, it’s not a high bar for Reynolds to clear. It’s too early to tell if the Aviation Gin playbook will work for phone plans, but the signal is strong if this is the kind of ad he can make from home.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Beer is a senior staff editor covering advertising and branding. He is also the host of Fast Company’s video series Brand Hit or Miss More


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