The Gap is suddenly on a mission to remind us it still exists. I consider myself a Gap commercials scholar and cannot remember a campaign as Old Navy-lame as this. “Go Christmas! Go Hanukkah! Go Kwanzaa! Go Solstice!“? Stop trying to make “Go Solstice” happen! It’s not going to happen. I’d light everything I ever purchased from the Gap since 2000 on fire for the chance to witness the verbal lashing Sue Sylvester would give these Cheerios wannabes. In other words, I would merely light a match and just sit there.
How many times can you sit through this s— without passing out? In the spirit of all-inclusion, would a mention of Festivus, Chrismukkah, or people with December birthdays (hi) lessen the blow this Gap campaign has delivered to humanity?
Comments (1-30) of 75 Add your comment
I was watching TV at a friend’s house this weekend, and said, “I’m so sick of these Old Navy ads already, and it’s not even Thanksgiving.” He had to tell me that it was for the Gap, not Old Navy. So, effectiveness of add:0, annoyance,:100.
that said, I don’t think that it’s necessarily Glee-inspired; evey year the Gap does a dance number. Remember those glorious Gene Kelly-inspired ads for khakis? SJParker’s uncomfortable dancing to Lenny Kravitz?
Wow, same thing happened to me last night. After the ad, my husband asked, “Um, what was that for?” And I said, “It’s one of those Old Navy ads.” Way to go, Gap. Also, the dance was fun, but that chant thing is nails/chalkboard. “Go Solstice” is groan-worthy.
Whoa, the whole time I was watching that commercial I thought “Old Navy is getting dumber and dumber every year” lol
Old Navy and Gap are actually the same company folks..
Huh? The Gap ALWAYS makes similar ads to these every year.
Honestly EW….you guys need to find something OTHER than “Glee” to wet your thongs over every freakin’ day…
lolz!
Good one Laura!
I love Glee. I’m just glad they’re not talking about Twilight (for once).
Then pay no attention to the previous post or to the upcoming posts later tonight!!
YES!! I’m starting to think that EW is being run by the editors of Tiger Beat. Enough Twilight!
I actually like the commercial and you’re right about the Gap having commercials like this in the past.
Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays… don’t get your thong in a wad Laura and enjoy Annie’s wisdom!
LMAO I agree Laura!!!
I mean, Glee is a good show, but EW makes it sound like Glee was written by Jesus or something.
I thought the same thing. Gap has ads like this all the time.
I actually quite enjoy them.
Remember when Gap ads were actually cool? This new ad is very annoying, but I still remember their swing dancing ad from so many years ago. That ad was cool at the time.
This ad might be cool if it were 1991. Maybe.
I miss the days of GAP West Side Story spots. This one is a sad remake.
If the ad mentioned Chrismukkah, I’d feel downright obligated to go buy something…Seth Cohen really had it right.
For sure. What was it? Claire Danes and Patrick Wilson dancing in boyfriend khakis?
That was delightful.
How old are you Annie? I can’t believe I’m about to defend Gap of all places, but these ads have been around oh so much longer than Glee. There was a terrific set of three of them about 10 years ago–the swing commercial was the most popular/recognizable and there’s a great SNL commercial called Gap Fat with Chris Farley imitating the gap style.
Phil, certainly old enough to consider myself a scholar of Gap commercials. Agree that some of those were cool. But this thing is Old Navy levels of lame.
Annie, Annie, please, please respond to my comment about you being a dud.
not farley, horatio sanz. i think farley had already passed by then.
Gotta agree with Laura and Lagitha, Glee didn’t inspire this musical ad. Gap’s been doing this for a long, long time. It’s not their best, but it’s not that bad either.
I remember when Gap ads were cool. The swing dance, the west side story spot…how about the ice skating for the holidays. When I saw this, this weekend my first response was that it had to be an old navy commercial because of how tacky it was…gap would never make something this bad. I WAS WRONG.
I actually kind of like this commercial just because it reminds me of when they started the whole Gap/Swing ads several years ago. This one isn’t quite as good but it’s not bad.
To Laura, Gap hasn’t done an ad like this for two or three years so it’s been awhile since they had one.
To Lagitha, Old Navy’s commercials aren’t even remotely close to the Gap ads in style. They’re about the “supermodelquins”.
To myself, I watch entirely too much T.V. Must get life.
This year’s theme is the super modelquins, but Old Navy did intentionally cheesy song and dance ads for years. I still find myself singing the 2002’s ad campaign song, “Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy Performance Fleeeeece!” everythime I see a fleece pullover.
But those Old Navy singing ads were nothing like the Gap dance numbers. The Old Navy ads usually had some TV Land washed up actor or actress singing that song and there was no dancing whatsoever.
I can’t even watch it on mute…the dancing is way too trippy. like at :25 .. the heads against each other with the guy doing a crab walk…seriously?
Yeah, it’s the creepiest thing ever.
and I just listened with sound on…unfortunate.
Ok my best Sue:
You’re sloppy babies. That was the most offensive thing I’ve seen in 20 years of teaching — and that includes an elementary school production of Hair. You think this is hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they’re going in another direction. That was hard. And blond dude, that sweater is just insane.
Woah, I actually feel a bit better about that horrific ad now. You can light your match now, Annie.
Love the ad. Makes me want to sing and dance and buy Gap clothes!
“first television campaign in over two years”
Did they have a similar campaign last year? I don’t remember it if they did but I remember the ones from previous years which Toni “Hey Mickey” Basil choreographed. I think her point is that these ads are the thing to do again since Glee just like vampires are cool again and everywhere since Twilight and True Blood.
I have seen this commercial a million times but NEVER once have listened to it. Thank the TV Gods for DVR!
Oh that commercial makes me gag! But I don’t like Glee either.
Annie Barrett you are a dud! Where is the “Glee” in your heart?! Oh, you probably got rid of it years ago, trying so hard to be cool, now you’re just cold. Why don’t you try a little singing and dancing in the privacy of your own home, may help to bring you back from the dead. Happy Holidays!
Wow I had to turn that off after about 10 seconds.
The “Go Solstice!” line is incredibly annoying. I agree with other posters that I miss the cool GAP ads of years past. The ad that I CANNOT stand is the new Best Buy commercial with the carolers suggesting Christmas gift items. Concept was probably better than the outcome. Would have worked better if the “employees” could actually sing (and in harmony).
I love multi-ethnic robots dancing and cheering. I don’t know why e’rbody gotta be hatin’.
Just kidding. This commercial is LAME. I too immediately thought it was for Old Navy.
LOL. This is almost more irritating than those current Old Navy mannequin commercials. I might have been on board with the dancing or something…maybe…but the lame-ass chanting is AWFUL. Very very very very grating. I’m with Annie, I can’t help but wonder if they are going back to this song-and-dance style because of the success of Glee. Yesenia made an excellent point about vampires – look at that Vampire Diaries show. That exists purely to capitalize on the vampire craze. We know the Gap had those commercials ten years ago or whenever…but I haven’t seen much like that in a while from them. Oh, and regarding Twist’s comment: I love Annie’s b*tchy writing; it’s hilarious! Just because this is her writing style doesn’t make her “cold.” It’s just looking at the ridiculousness around us and calling it out.
I didn’t realize “Glee” was the first musical ever.
Go Solstice? Sheesh.
Hey, as an atheist, I appreciate the mention of a non-religious event to celebrate in the month of December.
That being said, I do miss some of the older ads. The best one I can think of in recent memory was when they were selling black pants for women, they did clips of Audrey Hepburn dancing to the background of AC/DC’s “Back in Black.”
It would have been funnier if they used ‘Festivus’. Because it’s a festivus for the rest of us. The cheering was a little annoying though. Would have been ‘better’ if they just did it to music (maybe?).
They actually make me think of the Hillshire Farms commercials more than Glass. I keep expecting someone wearing a way too colorful sweater to scream, “Go meat!”
HAHAHAHAHA! This = classic. And I could totally see it happening in this ad.
Ha! Go meat!
HEY! I totally celebrate the Solstice – and I appreciate the Gap’s special shout-out.
But not so much that I’m going to actually buy something from them.
This is worth a write up, really?… I thought most people stopped watching ads years ago with the creation of DVRs (bless you DVR gods). I would think this technology would be mandatory for EW staffers. So Annie, hit the FF button and chill.
I sing the performance fleece song every time I see them in the store too (in my head of course!)…;)
Sing it out loud. Live a little.
Thank you for this post, because some of the responses here are hilarious and snarky. Loves it.
Annie, there is a cheer about birthdays in December. It’s on the http://cheerfactory.com/ site, called “Merry Birthday.” They gotcha.
I clicked. So you don’t have too. Gap has a cheer website!
this is how effective the ad is…until just NOW (after seeing the ad about a bajillion times), i had no idea it was a GAP ad. seriously. didn’t think it was old navy, but never once paid attention to who it was. the dancing is good, but the chanting is just cringeworthy.
i’m with you annie, where is the love for chrismukkah and festivus. seth cohen would be disappointed.
I enjoyed the commercial. It’s fun and stylish. Anyone with anything bad to say about it must have a grudge against the world for some reason. They aren’t doing anything but peddling their wares. Nothing awful about that.