Two views. Two stories. Two sides to the Checkers’ meat ad starring Gordon Ramsay and Nataniel. This week, Red&Yellow School student, Beatrice Willoughby, and lecturer Carmen Schaefer, square up over a platter of sizzling Checkers’ steakhouse classics and weigh in over the supermarket chain’s latest advertisement starring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and South Africa’s own Nataniël. Whose side are YOU on?
Gordon Ramsay and Nataniël sizzle in the new Checkers ad campaign
By Beatrice Willoughby
This wasn’t my favourite Checkers ad. Although I understand that celebrity chefs and their TV shows are fast becoming as popular as Grumpy Cat and Idols, (I myself am a die-hard MasterChef fan) but shoving a famous face into your ad doesn’t automatically make it good.
Gordon Ramsey is renowned for his blunt attitude, short temper, and of course, his colourful vocabulary. So when I first saw him in an ad for the supermarket I was surprised as I didn’t think his controversial persona fitted that of Checker’s warm, family image.
The TV spot shows Gordon Ramsey preparing Checkers’ new Steakhouse Classic picanha rump steak while South African singer, songwriter and entertainer, Nataniël le Roux, chirps in the background. This odd combination of personalities, coupled with the greasy Nataniël’s rather cringeworthy attempts at a running commentary, made me raise an eyebrow involuntarily.
The truth is; Checkers doesn’t need celebrities to make an entertaining ad. I remember the endearing ‘Corporate’ TV spot they produced a while back which featured an array of kiddies talking about Checkers, each with an individual South African character ranging from a prim little poppie to a small Afrikaner boy. These personalities demonstrated Checker’s family image in a heart-warming, local way.
So although the Nataniël and Ramsay ad was glamorous and well produced, its lack of character left me uninterested in a serving of picanha steak.
– Beatrice Anne Willoughby, 19 year-old Copywriting student, fashionista and amateur poet.
{About Beatrice: The two incredibly creative adults who brought me into this world gave me a love of poetry, creative writing and the ability to be alone for extended amounts of time. After realising that a degree in the dramatic arts was probably not going to lead to a life like Charlize Theron’s, I decided to study copywriting at the Red&Yellow School. I am now in my second year of studies and feel incredibly lucky to have found what I want to do so early on in life. When not at college or attempting to write a poem, I can be found dabbling in photography, planning a spinster future on Pinterest, or writing for my fashion blog: www.whatawillowtreewears.wordpress.com]
Gordon Ramsay and Nataniël’s Checkers ‘Better Butchery’ ad
by Carmen Schaefer
The best thing about the new Checkers ad featuring Gordon Ramsay and Nataniël is the ending, where Nataniël waves a warning finger at Ramsay – behind his back, of course.
The commercial features Ramsay doing the cooking while Nataniël looks on, monitoring the chef’s cussing, and tossing in a few wry comments. Miraculously, Ramsay produces an expletive-free performance.
I suppose it is quite a risky proposition to put two big names in an ad like this, but it’s the chemistry between these two personalities that makes for a much more memorable and entertaining piece of communication than the standard endorsement ad fare. Well done on getting that right. I like that both English and Afrikaans versions were made, and I find it amusing that an Afrikaans singer who wears make-up (and a crown brooch!) is paired with a cussing Scottish celeb chef.
The point of this commercial, however, is not the celebrities in it, but two new cuts of meat now available at Checkers. As a vegetarian everything meat-related goes straight over my head, but I got the message that if Gordon Ramsay thinks these meats are pretty cool, then Checkers must have some pretty cool cuts.
What really drove the point home was an insert of Ramsay in the ‘making of’ film, where he tells us the only pork he’s tasted that was better than Checkers’ were his own two pigs he’d kept in his back garden called Trinny and Susannah. Now that’s funny, and it’s a potent selling proposition – why didn’t that piece of information make it into the commercial?
All in all, the ad works because it’s informative, it makes Checkers’ new cuts look really good, and it’s funny. And that’s more than what one gets from most supermarket advertising.
– Carmen Schaefer 30 something designer, design educator and die-hard Audrey Hepburn fan
[About Carmen: Carmen Schaefer has guided many talented young creatives towards their ultimate portfolio in her role as a design and art direction lecturer at the AAA School of Advertising, Vega, and currently at Red and Yellow. Her published research focuses on young peoples social behaviours in the digital era. She has a private design practice, where she focuses on sustainable design solutions for her clients.]
