B (Dis)Connected

After months upon months of unilateral disarmament, Boyd Gaming has decided to fight back against Station Casinos‘ hugely successful “We Love Locals” TV campaign. (We could discuss why Station felt the need to reassure Las Vegans that it liked them, really, really liked them … but let’s cut the Fertittae some slack today.) So anyway, Boyd has rolled out a new campaign, one that makes you wish that it hadn’t. First you have to get past the bizarrie of the transgendered vocals. Then, even if you liked Cheers back in the hazy yon, it had one of the sappiest theme songs ever perpetrated. Couldn’t Boyd have found something a little less … Eighties? The entire affect feels wheezy and borderline geriatric, as though Boyd were trying to cultivate a “casino for old fogeys” image. I don’t know who should be sacked first: the ad firm that devised these awful TV spots or the Boyd execs who approved them. Epic fail, guys. Station 1, Boyd 0.