Throughout its historic run, one of the best long-running jokes on The Simpsons has been Homer’s madcap schemes. Whether serving as a baseball team mascot or bootlegging moonshine, it seems the patriarch of America’s favorite family never quite gets it right.
Arguably Homer’s most successful venture was his snowplow business, as featured in Mr. Plow, the ninth episode of the show’s fourth season. Now, YouTube is using Homer and his Springfield-based startup to attract more small businesses to its platform via a new ad.
Incorporating original clips and the catchy jingle at the heart of Homer and Lisa’s Mr. Plow promotional campaign, the YouTube for Business ad puts a new spin on the episode.
The one-minute clip, which will serve as a pre-roll ad online, sees YouTube — instead of local television — serve as Mr. Plow’s advertising platform of choice. In the video, Lisa uploads the ad to the service and other familiar characters (including Homer’s colleague Lenny, and Bart’s classmate Ralph Wiggum) watch it online, via laptops and tablets. The subsequent interest attracts customers and results in Homer being awarded the key to the city. The ad ends with a promotional message stating: “Watch it work for Homer. Watch it work for Mr. Plow. Watch it work for your business.”
The description below the clip further caters the message to small businesses, adding that YouTube “isn’t just a place for brands with prime time budgets” and can help “small and medium businesses … succeed on the Web.”
Mr. Plow was an important milestone in The Simpsons’ ground-breaking history. The episode saw Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer) win his second Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. It also marked the first time the show was submitted to the Outstanding Comedy Series category instead of Outstanding Animated Program. However, it was not selected for nomination. The episode also features former Batman and current Family Guy regular, Adam West, playing himself.
This isn’t the first time The Simpsons has been used as part of an ad campaign, as pointed out by Uproxx. In the past, the show has been used to sell ads for Butterfingers, Burger King, and Domino’s.
