Saturday Night Live went too far with its latest parody ad — at least according to the company it spoofed. After the NBC late-night sketch comedy aired a pre-taped parody TV commercial for Safelite AutoGlass, the popular company promptly issued a statement distancing itself from the ad.
In the ill-received sketch, Saturday Night Live’s Beck Bennett played a creepy Safelite AutoGlass technician who repeatedly broke the minivan windshield of a mom and daughter duo he was eyeing so that they would have to call him to repair it. Bennett co-starred in the sketch with Aidy Bryant, who played a mom of a high school basketball player, and Melissa Villasenor, who played the teen athlete that the creepy auto glass tech was flirting with.
The fake ad closely mirrored Safelite’s real commercials as far as Bennett’s shaved head look and the products and services actually offered, but the underlying message — that the tech was a pedophile — is what had the real Safelife reps speaking out on social media.
“Thanks for the skit,” a rep for the official Safelite Autoglass Twitter site wrote. “Although we can take a joke, this one was a step too far. Our techs are our heroes. #notcool.”
@nbcsnl thanks for the skit. Although we can take a joke, this one was a step too far. Our techs are our heroes. #notcool
— Safelite AutoGlass® (@safelite) October 8, 2017
Safelite also responded to other viewers’ tweets about the phony ad, saying the company was “disappointed” that NBC and Saturday Night Live allowed it to air. They probably should be. Surprisingly, some Saturday Night Live viewers tweeted that they thought the parody sketch was a real Safelite ad.
Funniest part of this SafeLite parody is that if you didnt tell me it was a parody, I would’ve thought it was a Safelite commercial. #SNL ??
— Melissa Wasser (she/her) (@Melissa_Wasser) October 8, 2017
100% thought this was an actual Safelite commercial #SNL
— Nic (@CloneNic) October 8, 2017
So I can only assume Safelite paid for this sketch #SNL
— William Bruce West (@williambwest) October 8, 2017
The Saturday Night Live episode in question started off on a high note. Country singer Jason Aldean made a surprise appearance in his first return to the stage after the fatal shootings in Las Vegas that abruptly ended his last concert. Aldean performed a cover of Tom Petty’s 1989 solo song “I Won’t Back Down” as a tribute to the late rocker, who died suddenly last week. In addition, musical guest Sam Smith offered up two inspirational performances.
But Saturday Night Live is primarily a sketch comedy series, and each week there’s usually at least one victim of the long-running late night show’s biting humor. This time, SNL cut sharp into Safelite AutoGlass.
You can see Saturday Night Live’s questionable Safelite AutoGlass parody ad in the video below. Do you think SNL went too far when mocking a real company and its workers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=wIiRJnQqOCw
[Featured Image by Will Heath/NBC]
