• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, August 13, 2024

For the past two-and-a-half weeks, Americans were thrilled to share in the beautiful surroundings and genuine excellence of our gold-winning teams in Paris.

It felt so refreshing to be united in this way. Everyone was streaming, beaming and chit-chatting at all hours, talking about the athletes and their personal stories.

And it reminded me that at bottom, we’ve had enough darkness and cynicism.

But now that Tom Cruise has silently putt-putted his way back to LA on his clean, electric motorcycle dream machine, preparing the rings for 2028, I hope we don’t lose this sense of light and optimism.

And as a reforming cynic myself, I know that sudden positivity and earnestness can be brutal, boring and eyeroll-inducing. Especially in advertising. 

I’m all for irony and the great human comedy.

However, while still coming down from that Olympic reverie, I’ve been puzzled by a spot that, while trying to be irreverent and funny, comes off as mean-spirited, and, well, icky.

Am I the only one wondering why the always jokey Al Roker, beloved NBC weatherman, author, and “Today Show” favorite, would want to represent himself as a lying jerk in a BMW commercial?

Granted, I hate pranks. They make me mad.

Still, this spot comes from Goodby, Silverstein, an agency known for its deftness with humor.

So I tried rewatching this “Make Summer All Yours” commercial promoting its “Electric BMW sales event,” looking for something redeeming.

I will say that the spot is beautifully shot, and Al looks happy and right at home, cruising ocean-ward in his BMW i4 Gran Coupe. He wears a bright yellow rain slicker, a nice touch.

But it comes down to this: Isn’t it everyone’s dream to ruin a cute family’s day at the beach (excited little kid and all), just as they arrive and unpack?

While still in the parking lot on this perfect sunny day, having landed a prime spot, the mother gets a video alert on her phone, from Roker himself. “I know it doesn’t look like it right now,” he says, “but it’s going to pour. It’s going to rain cats and dogs! I’d be home quick.”

They leave, along with the happy campers already frolicking on the beach.

Meanwhile, back in his coupe, Al has told his BMW to play his favorite music, and we hear the annoying “Call Me Al” hook from one of Paul Simon’s biggest solo hit songs, “You Can Call Me Al” from his "Graceland" album.

Simon does work up some amusingly existential lyrics later in this song, but we don’t hear that interesting part in this commercial. He asks, “Where's my wife and family? What if I die here? Who'll be my role model?” Certainly not Al.

So, Al rolls into the parking lot, smiling, right past the sad, misled family whose disappointed kid says, “Isn’t that Al Roker?”

Cut to Roker in his beachwear on his beach chair, alone in paradise. “I can’t believe they bought it,” he says, hee-hee-ing from underneath his umbrella.

The scene reminded me of that much-memed, infamous photo of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie plopped in a beach chair much like Al’s. He was sunning himself in front of the ocean on a day when the beach was otherwise shut down to visitors.

He never apologized, even though the whole world made fun of him.

Sadly, Al has shown a similar arrogance and tone-deafness.

And what is this alternate universe where everyone tunes into Al Roker's livestreams as their sole source on weather? 

With great power comes great responsibility, Al!

Does he think he’s being cute and cheeky to lie like this, so that even lifeguards lock up their stands after his pronouncements?

Isn’t there enough suffering in the world?  

But then again, I do remember years back in NYC, when I watched a certain poohbah in publishing waiting to make a left turn in his BMW coupe, probably late for the Hamptons. As an elderly woman in a walker made her halting way across the street, he blasted his horn, throwing the poor woman off her moorings.

As much as this sounds like the opening of a TV show about a sociopathic lawyer, I am not making this up.

Please don’t tell me boorish behavior is in the brand’s DNA.

Can’t we all just get along?