• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, August 27, 2024

Irony is hard to define. 

Just ask award-winning singer/songwriter and ‘90s teen muse Alanis Morissette.

In 1997, on her hugely successful “Jagged Little Pill” album, Morissette included the song “Ironic.”  An instant hit, it was nominated as Record of the Year at the Grammys. Its hugely popular music video, showing different Alanises appearing simultaneously in a car as both driver and passengers, was also nominated for best music video, short form.

Classic Morissette, the ballad rocked, except for one tiny detail: The examples she gives in the lyrics don’t really meet the definition of ironic.

Here’s the chorus: 

“It’s like raining on your wedding day.
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It’s the good advice you just didn’t take.”

As such, it triggered a literary and pop cultural debate over the linguistic meaning of irony.  When asked about the song in a December 2014 interview with The Huffington Post, Morissette sounded like she was still smarting over it, admitting:  “ It was embarrassing to have the planet basically say: ‘you’re a dumbass for your malaproprism!’ And at the same time, it is ironic that a song called ‘Ironic’ isn’t filled with ironies.”

Now, a new commercial from the Martin Agency for UScellular has resurrected “Ironic.”  It features Morissette as narrator, with a dozen visual references to the original, iconic video, and vignettes that allude to the original lyrics, offering a revisionist take on what’s ironic. 

Its message? Let’s use our phones less.

The concept certainly differentiates and elevates UScellular from other phone services.

As Eric Jagher, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at US Cellular joked in a release, “The only thing more ironic than smartphones making people feel disconnected, is a wireless company telling people to put their phones down.”

That’s exactly what the 60-second spot does. It’s part of a campaign that includes linear and digital video, TikTok, Instagram, and a sweepstakes that gives fans a chance to see Morissette perform live Sep. 29 in Dana Point, California.

The one-minute video starts with Morisette saying that our phones were made to help us connect, but somehow, they've made us less connected. 

"Which is ironic, don't you think?" she says.

Then we get shown other "ironies" of phone usage, like despite telling her kids (she now has three) to turn off their phones at restaurant, they must use them to view the menu. And how watching a movie or streaming series together is sometimes accompanied by some simultaneous texting or tweeting.

There’s a ton of entertainment and messaging packed into the commercial, and if you’re not a Morrisetteologist, it might take some time, and rewatching the original video, to get all the Easter eggs. Ditto about being a UScellular expert, in order to know what US mode is on your phone and how to access it.  The company introduced US mode in ads last year, but I must have been absent that day.  Only UScellular has it, and it would seem to be the equivalent of “do not disturb” on Apple phones.

I think the ad’s creators could have explained it a little more.

But it’s a thought-provoking concept, leading the category in redefining what healthy digital connection in our culture means.

Speaking of leadership, the anti-cellular, mental-health-break, do-more-IRL philosophy is starting to take off. Just yesterday, Australia announced new laws protecting workers' “right to disconnect,” so that they could choose to ignore communications from work after hours and on weekends.

Similar laws are in effect or in the works for some workers in Canada, Morissette’s home.

This Martin work is original, and smart in the ways of smart phones.

Is that ironic?  Not necessarily, but it’s fun to ponder with Alanis.