Video: Ferris Bueller Super Bowl ad not actually about Ferris Bueller

I blogged the teaser so I guess I’m obliged to blog this. Question for intellectual property lawyers: Why did they go out of their way here to make sure the viewer knows it’s Matthew Broderick the actor rather than Ferris Bueller the character? If it’s a simple matter of them not being able to license the “Ferris” trademark from Paramount (or not being willing to spend the money), wouldn’t they have been on safe-ish ground if they omitted any references to names altogether? I.e. Matthew/Ferris calls into work, tells his generic boss-in-a-suit that he’s sick, and then the ad takes off from there without any name being uttered. Everyone knows who this is supposed to be, after all. If they can go this far with a commercial parody without paying any licensing fee, why not go an inch further and leave the identity of the main character ambiguous?

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I’m not crazy about the spot. Lots of references to the movie, yeah, but it’s rote and joyless. No surprise that the guy responsible for “The Hangover” was in charge of it. And what’s with Broderick’s clothes? If they thought dressing him in Ferris’s hallmark jacket and vest was too much, at least put him in something with flair befitting the character. He looks even shlubbier here than he did as Mr. McAllister in “Election.” Exit question: No Alan Ruck cameo? How much extra could that have cost, a hundred bucks?

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