The beer brand's latest commercial is called 'Grim Reaper'. Let's just call it 'Grim' for short. If only it had been short ...
It starts with the faux terrifying effects favoured by Bela Lugosi fans; you know, doors creaking and bells tolling. Then, it cuts to the Grim Reaper entering the house of our Dutch hero. They meet, Dutch hero opens the fridge to display shelf upon shelf of chilled Grolsch and immediately goes from being Grim's next victim to his best friend.
So far, so-so. Sadly the next scene does not involve the Dutch hero shoving Grim into his fridge, jamming it closed with a scythe through the door handle and sitting down to savour his favourite brew.
Instead, it descends deep into sad, stereotypical blokishness; Grim and mate in pub, playing pool, trying to pull, behaving in the generally stupid way we all do, but don't need to be reminded of.
The ad doesn't even have some funky underground music to carry it along and I was forced into a grimace rather than a smile at the final 'joke', where a bride strips for her new, aged husband, only for Grim to relax with a Grolsch, rather than strike him down with a heart attack.
If that is what drinking Grolsch says about me, I'll have a Heineken.
Things have moved on a bit from the Loaded days, and that is reflected in the latter's current campaign, starring Ray Liotta, which offers far more grown-up themes of excellence in beer-making and a more European-style taste.
A good beer ad should be consistent in what it wants to communicate.
The previous executions in this series have all pushed the twin themes of quality and taste. Yet the message you would take from this ad is that by drinking Grolsch, you are just an average bloke - and that is not a good point to push.
At the end, we are assured that Grolsch is 'Brewed longer for a fuller flavour'. Let's just hope that its next ad is as well.
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