Deutsche Telekom “Billie Eilish x Telekom: What We Do Next” (2020) 2:00 (Germany)

I am clearly not the target market, as this is so obviously made for, and stars, teenagers. But what I see in this ad, aside from Billie Eilish as the megastar to attract the viewers, is rooms of kids who are not interacting with each other. They are staring at their phones in each scene, or posing to their phone, even as they wish everyone "Happy Pride" as if it's the new "Merry Christmas". Billie Eilish drones on about what we see:  “Just a bunch of kids who are screen-obsessed. Disconnected. Not in the moment, right? Because, like, how can a generation that lives online know anything about the real world?“ and leads us to scenes of people sharing the speech by a youth activist from the Netherlands stating the world has a moral obligation to involve youth in the decision making processes. Now we watch models pose in sustainable clothing because that's important too. It's a long chain of pandering scenes as if checking off a to-do list. The ad strikes me as a giant excuse for being tethered to, and programmed by, technology, rather than "powerfully using" it. 

But like I said, this is not targeted to me, so I asked for a comment from my 14-year-old daughter, who up until a few months ago was a huge Billie Eilish fan.

-"What do you think about this ad?"

-"It's trash."

Client:  Deutsche Telekom AG

Principal talent: Billie Eilish
Ad agency: Saatchi&Saatchi