Reebok's Terry Tate Office Linebacker Commercial

Reebok’s “Terry Tate Office Linebacker” commercial from the 2003 Superbowl is easily one of my favorite commercials of all time. This commercial is based on a company that hires an office linebacker to ensure maximum productivity of its workforce. The linebacker, named Terry Tate, goes around the office tackling and screaming at the workers when they are slacking on the job.

One of the most enjoyable parts of this commercial is its use of comedy. It is extremely funny to see Terry Tate tackling and screaming at the workers. He is running around the office knocking people into oblivion. A lot of the comedy in this commercial draws from the notion of an incorrect context. On a football field, it would be very normal to see a defender tackling and taunting an opponent. In an office building, however, this behavior is somewhat unprecedented. Thus, the inconsistency of a football player patrolling around an office building plays a big part in creating the comedy of the commercial.

Additionally, this commercial’s appeal does not derive from a star athlete. Terry Tate is not a real NFL linebacker. Rather, he is a made-up character that represents any generic linebacker. Therefore, unlike many sports commercials explored in this blog, star appeal does not have any role in making this commercial a success. Instead of star appeal, this commercial seems to succeed due to its novelty. The majority of people who saw this commercial during the Superbowl were football fans. Moreover, many of these people work in an office building during the week. These two components of the their lives, however, are often kept far away from each other. As a result, the combination of work life and football into one commercial appeals to all of these viewers who probably wish their office life could be more related to football. Overall, this commercial is a hysterical and clever integration of football and office life that is easily relatable to many Americans.