Ad of the Day: McDonald's

DDB and digital sibling Tribal DDB take it upon themselves to vindicate the lemon in a new campaign for McDonald's McCafé Strawberry Lemonade slushie. To that end, the agencies enlisted Steve Schirripa, better known as Bobby Baccalieri of The Sopranos (who is spherical himself, not unlike a giant citrus, but a bit sweeter, as sociopathic mobster types go). While we're not immune to the charms of lemons, the lady in the commercial seems perhaps too at ease with the fact that a piece of yellow fruit is rolling around and barking at her about how delicious he tastes when pureed, frozen, and sucked out of a straw. Yes, it's cute, and makes me pause to reconsider the Wendy's Frosty I just guzzled. But it's also cutesy, and a self-congratulatory homage to DDB's famous "Lemon" ad for Volkswagen—which itself wasn't too complimentary toward lemons. Maybe a more generous reading is that the allusion is self-deprecating. Either way, the spot ends up stating the obvious: Lemons, as the idiom suggests, are better made into lemonade.