The New Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Ad Just Took Cringy to a Whole Different Level

It amuses me to imagine that behind this ad was, in fact, a really old guy that threw in a bunch of stuff together, thinking that “young people” would "dig it,” like celebrities singing a hit song from his time in the army in the 1950s.

The trailer starts off on an airstrip with a huge plane that looks a lot like a Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Then the action moves inside the plane, where a bunch of people on motorcycles start revving them up while a famous rapper is beginning to sing the familiar "left, left, left, right, left" lyrics that kick everything into gear.

Of course, the GMC Hummer EV pickup reappears in the clip. This time it's accompanied by a bunch of people on ATVs and bikes that try too hard to look like they mean business.

Then, these famous people are filmed in diverse locations all over the world while singing a rewritten version of “I Don't Know, But I've Been Told.” I think the idea was meant to inspire those who watch to think everything that’s going on is really, really cool and somehow make them want to buy the game.

Now, I’m no Martin Scorsese, but as a huge Call of Duty fan, this ad with zero gameplay in it didn’t do anything for me except make me cringe really hard.

Take, for instance, the scene with the McLarens. We see Formula One driver for the McLaren team Lando Norris doing donuts in a 650S model. Also, there’s a 720S model standing nearby.

I understand the correlation between him and McLaren. Given the terms of the contract between them, it’s not like he could have appeared in an ad with a Ferrari. But at the end of the day, how does that have anything to do with Call of Duty?

Well, nothing at first glance, but maybe that wasn’t the point at all. Maybe, this unintentionally cringy commercial is meant to grab at the fan base of the on-screen celebrities. Which, as a marketing scheme, is pretty good.

So you get people like Nicki Minaj to star in it, their fans hear about the collaboration between them and CoD: MW II, and thus, hopefully, many of them will surely check it out. At least a Google search, if nothing else.

Now let's get back to the artistic vision of the commercial itself. The main idea, tone, and direction of the video try to be cool, hardcore, and things of this nature, but it just falls flat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really well filmed and edited from a production standpoint, but to what it tries to come across as, it misses the mark by a margin.

This is ironic when you think about it, given the resources Activision has for pulling off something like this. The budget for this ad must have been huge. Probably in the neighborhood of $5 million or more, judging by the cast it employed and the high level of production of the entire thing.

Of course, it’s safe to assume that Activision will get its money back a hundred-fold, given that every time Call of Duty shows up on the gaming scene, it obliterates every other game out there in terms of sales.

But the point I'm making is not about the money but about the art of making a cool, catchy commercial in line with the passionate people that play this game. This could have been such a memorable ad if it had more passion put into it. Like the ones PlayStation used to make with their real-life human mascot Kevin Butler during the PS3 era.

I am a huge, huge fan of Call of Duty, especially the Modern Warfare series, and I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that this ad won’t mobilize any fan to “squad up.”

However... as I was saying, maybe this wasn’t meant for the CoD fans after all. Maybe it was intended to gather new fans. This could be a legit possibility.

Modern Warfare II is coming out physically in stores and digitally on October 28 for $70. However, those who pre-order the game will get to play the single-player campaign a week early.

P.S.

If you want to watch a great version of the song from the trailer, simply rewatch 1987’s “Full Metal Jacket” by Stanley Kubrick. That is a 100% cringe-free movie.