In this online ad by Stride the message focused on appealing to the 18-35 demographic by using sarcasm, humor and vulgarities to capture the viewers attention and help them remember the ad's message.
Stride is known for their outrageous ads focused, in the past, on showing audiences 'direct impact' advertising tactics like the one featuring a ram they released on customers who wouldn't spit out their gum and chew another piece. The ad was funny, outrageous and clearly meant to show an exaggerated effort by Stride to get more people chewing new pieces of gum, a tribute to how long the flavor of their gum lasts.
This new ad's over the top style is like it's predecessors, using a character who abuses his authority (the main spokesperson) to show how 'badass' or 'rebellious' Stride gum really is. The goal is for viewers to come away, after seeing the spokesperson refer to a blurred out 5Gum package, their competitior, as boring, and feel that the NEW Stride Gum is the bold, better choice they should be making.
The commercial never touches on the flavor of the gum, rather they refer to their gum as 'mad intense' and talk of how it's coated in 'cooling dust'. To most consumers these phrases are not only unprofessional but sound downright suspicious. However the gum is believably backed by the 'world's best lawyer' so the Stride company can make whatever claims they want about their gum because the claims are SO outlandish that no common person can or would view them as credible. This tactic is great and goes with other popular current ads from other companies like Old Spice and their examples of 'what your man could be' with their new body wash.