Test of Time?

The night before speaking to an audience of current study abroad students, alumni, and industry colleagues, I couldn’t sleep. I kept fixating on a video DDR had prepared to give a high level explanation of project management to those seeking information on careers in the language services industry.

In the video, a young woman tired of her family always asking when she’d “find a nice boy,” gets an unsuspecting male customer service rep from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Rob, to play along with the ruse she’s concocted that he’s her boyfriend and rescue her from the dreaded and inevitable grilling by family members at her family reunion when he comes to pick her up.

Enterprise’s tongue-in-cheek nod to the tagline “We’ll pick you up.” and “going the extra mile for our customers” worked well when the French ad first ran in Canada several years ago (DDR Global handled the French voice over). But that night of insomnia, I wondered if the ad actually stood the test of time, or if it might raise some eyebrows post-#MeToo, 45… given the current Andrew Cuomo situation. (Sadly, the list seems never-ending.) And what about scenes of maskless family members reuniting en masse, zero social distancing, and a decidedly non contactless delivery of a rental car.

Can we even share creative from several years ago given the current state of the world?

Is the ad no longer acceptable given our current global awareness about assault, sexual harassment, and other misconduct?

Is it possible the ad shows an empowered woman taking control of her life?

Thoughts?