If you've got a gun, why wouldn't you want to bring it along for all those special occasions—like a first date, or having a baby? That, at least, is the tack that Saturday Night Live takes in its latest parody ad, using the kind of singsong tone usually reserved for jewelry ads.
Initially, the two-minute piece seems like it'll make fun of Airbnb or some other tech giant's pitch about its now-ubiquitous place in everyday life. But the plot turns on a dime when comedian Amy Schumer, host of this past Saturday's show, opens a box over a romantic dinner and finds that her paramour has given her a very special gift.
Cribbing from a hearty tradition of treacly ad copy, the female narrator says, "Guns are there in little moments and big ones, when things fall apart or it all comes together. They unite us, comfort us, bring us joy and strength."
In the end, it's a brilliantly disarming spoof. Many Americans are obsessed with the right to bear arms—it was in the Constitution, after all, so, naturally, it makes sense in the year 2015. The disconnect in the spot—between the pacifying tone and the uncomfortable visuals of guns in emotional moments—works to punch up the seriousness of the issue, and how the way it's discussed can tend to trivialize the dangers involved.
On the gun-control-advertising absurdity scale, though, it's probably a toss up with last year's hit PSA, featuring a frontyard dildo battle.
