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Facebook’s First Ever TV Ad Will Blow Your Mind
The social media giant’s first attempt at global branding unwittingly revealed its own hubris.
In the annals of big corporate marketing, there may be nothing like it. The ad starts with a red chair suspended in the air in a dark forest. Then images float by of an old Black man sitting a bus stop, a young Latino man reading a book on his porch rocking chair, and two young Black kids spinning one another on an old office chair in the middle of a residential street. While we see more images of a group of dancers on chairs, a smiling old Asian man resting on a bench, a girl putting her rag doll on a chair, a dinner party and a couple snuggling on a love seat, a woman narrator starts to speak:
“Chairs. Chairs are made so that people can sit down and take a break. Anyone can sit on a chair, and if the chair is large enough, they can sit down together. And tell jokes. Or make up stories. Or just listen. Chairs are for people. And that is why chairs are like…”
Wait for it.
No, this wasn’t an ad for Ikea. Or for Herman Miller.
It was an ad for Facebook, made by Oscar winning Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu (the director of Amores Perros), produced by Wieden + Kennedy and released in October 2012.
Yes, “Chairs are like Facebook.”
The ad goes on to explain why Facebook is also like doorbells, airplanes, bridges, dance floors and basketball, all “Things That Connect Us,” the ad’s portentous title.
This was Facebook’s first major ad, launched to mark its reaching one billion users. Mark Zuckerberg, its founder and CEO, heralded its release, writing on the company’s news blog, “For the first time in our history, we’ve made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth.” He added, with due modesty, “Facebook isn’t the first thing people have made to help us connect. We belong to a rich tradition of people making things that bring us together.”
