Granted, Magic Mountain's got a new roller coaster to promote. And the new spot certainly plays up the thrill angle. It features a early 20-something riding a city bus, with a bored expression on his face. He slides open the window, then climbs out and up on to the top of the bus, where he "surfs" as the bus drives down the street. The tag tells viewers to come to Six Flags to find their thrills, pitching Tatsu.
Personally, I think that if you're going to show egregiously illegal and unsafe behavior in a commercial, you need to go waaaaaay over the top with it, to make sure the viewer knows he watching farce. This spot plays too... reserved. It almost feels like Six Flags *really thinks* there is a market of bus-surfing Gen-Y'ers out there that it wants to capture.
It sure doesn't do anything for me, as a parent, to convince me to bring the family out to the park. If you've seen the spot, what do you think? And if you've seen a different Six Flags ad in your market, post a comment with a report. Thanks.
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But I don't remember *ever* seeing a TV commercial for a theme park, save Disney World.
I suspected that the current Six Flags commercial would be used around the country, but it looks like Flower St. in downtown L.A., so I couldn't be sure until someone outside SoCal confirms it. (It might be a little early to start running commercials elsewhere, too. I keep forgetting that most of y'all aren't experiencing 60-plus degree weather right now.)
One thing that I missed before seeing the spot again last night. The narrator says "our employees have grown accustomed to thrills," or something like that, as the guy climbs on to the bus. So, the subtext here is, what? Six Flags employees are reckless? Is that *really* what the company wants to say?
Any chance you know of a place that has it online so I can see it here in Ohio?
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