As the phone wars heat up, it seems that mobile manufacturers will do anything they can to get consumers to buy their products for the tiniest differences. Celebrity endorsements still remain one of the most surefire sales strategies, and there are likely no better endorsers than 2 Chainz and Awkwafina, a comedic dynamic duo if ever there was one (move over, Laurel and Hardy). While the Google phone being advertised probably can’t actually buy landmarks, Chainz and Awkwafina certainly do a great job of selling it while being pampered at a nail salon.
The ad opens with Chainz and Awkwafina trying to take a selfie when his phone runs out of storage, sparking a back-and-forth that starts with the pair listing all the things they want in a mobile device, includes 2 Chainz “buying” Mount Fuji in Japan, and concludes with him chucking his current device before shoving his nail technicians’ tool cart away to punctuate their call-and-response rant and say “goodbye” to his unhelpful device. Of the complaints and wishes they express, Awk hates having to delete pictures of her grandma just to take more pictures of her grandma (you can never have too many pictures of your grandma), while Chainz wants a phone that knows his preference for impromptu sea bass dinners.
The funniest part, of course, is thinking that a man who buys his own oxygen and had a show called Most Expensivest and a woman who co-starred in one of the biggest films of 2018 would ever quibble over “paying for things I don’t want.” To be honest, it makes me want a whole series of ads, or even a TV show, of Chainz and Awkwafina being ridiculously ostentatious and cheap at the same time. Think LeBron in Trainwreck. Think about it, Hollywood, there’s a lot of gold in that there mine.
