Happy Gilmore 2 & US Bank
Happy Gilmore 2 is an instant success. Cameos, celebrities, actors in and out of scenes, famous athletes from golf legends to football stars, no one seems to have been left out. Yet, the standout colors of a logo and institution in the first half of the movie is inescapable and strange: US Bank’s name and logo is in every scene and fills nearly every pixel of the screen in every scene. From caddy shirts, to flags, to mugs, to caps, flags, bleacher advertising…have I missed anything? US Bank’s obstreperous show was a bizarre contrast to the usual commercial sponsorship banners.
I then wonder: were any actors, producers, celebrities or athletes in Happy Gilmore 2 informed of US Bank’s prolonged legal suit in FL surrounding allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and misconduct regarding midwestern family clients? Would they have been considered to sponsor this movie? After all, the movie can be distilled simplistically: Unprocessed grief leads to success,: that’s the part US Bank sponsors…and when grief hits Happy, it all falls apart until he pulls himself together again: US Bank has left the movie at that point.
Is the take away then that concern for others’ wellbeing is unimportant to corporate institutions? US Bank was around for the fun successful part and had no interest in the more complex emotional second half of the movie. What does that mean for actors, celebrities, athletes in their support for US Bank playing such an important role in a movie where the sponsor itself doesn’t seem to want to be part of the poignant message of the movie? No matter one’s status, Happy Gilmore 2 resonates with Gen Z and other generations because we can all relate to loss, stuffing our feelings, being strong, playing despite our grief, and carrying on. And when we break down, we understand too that we are human, pain hurts, loss eats way at us, and we fall. Happy recovers, as most of us do, because we choose to, because we know there is more to life, we are brave and we have courage, perhaps because most of us don’t have a choice. Where was US Bank in those scenes and in those moments where a sponsor could show it’s support for those in pain, those who haven’t faced their loss, to show support for those still grieving?
Sadly, a true lost opportunity for US Bank, which seems to have been only concerned with entering the world of golf on it’s own terms, ignoring the point of the movie and more importantly completely missing a golden chance to show the world it cares about people, loss, courage to face our pain, in short all that which makes us human.