Are these ads the type of thing that might go viral on social media?
I'm in the age group that still watches some TV, but mostly social media/streaming, but I am aware that the younger generations mostly view social media, with the occasional bit of streaming.
If the TV ads are mostly seen by the over 70s, and that is going to limit the number of new buyers.
On the other hand something going viral, it gets attention well beyond the social media platform on which it is first posted.
Eh, might go viral for the obvious (to anyone who saw the movie) reference if done in the same style, and it would definitely not be targeting the elderly but based on being a meme reference primarily people in their 40's to 50's, though younger people might laugh _at_ it and spread it by doing so. I've noticed a LOT of people doing reaction videos in the last couple of years on Youtube, so the number of people who might recognize the meme is actually pretty sizable beyond those who would have seen it when the movie was actually new.
Generally 30-60s each, they were interspersed within the movie itself, in a weird quasi-4th-wall-break, complete with an on-screen cursor mousing over the screen and clicking on another section of an interactive web page type thing (pretty cutting edge for 1997, I guess). Not sure if it would be better to completely embrace that in a direct sense as a bit of nostalgia and "LOL LOOK AT THIS OLD PERSON TECH" or move to a more modern style of showing a screen being swiped from one app or whatever to another instead. Maybe run both, and use demographic targeting to skew the changes of which one you see accordingly ?
Instead of "joining up to fight for the future" by joining the mobile infantry, a segment parodying that might be more along the lines of ditching ICE for EV or embracing solar power etc. You could potentially do a whole series of these as short segments with each being a different thing to do. The little kid popping out of the lineup in full armor can even still be there, just a little kid sitting in the driver's seat playing one of the racing games or whatever instead maybe?
Instead of the bug meteor / planetary defenses bit being better than ever, work it into something like "cost of ownership" or "charging convenience" are better than ever.
Instead of a bunch of mobile infantry handing weapons to kids (yikes, but totally on brand in context for the sort of in-universe propaganda it was), could be battery powered go karts, appropriately-sized (both kid and vehicle) ATX, electric jetskis, electric bikes etc.
"Come on you apes, you wanna live forever?!" can become "Come on you EVs, you wanna charge forever?!" with a bit on the different types of charging networks, speeds, battery SoC, how they impact charge rate etc.
I'm sure you can use your imagination with quite a few more of the segments to parody them into being pro-EV / pro-renewables, etc. Some obviously won't translate well... but you don't have to parody them all. There's plenty of fertile nostalgia meme to be farmed here.
And like all the clips end with "Would you like to know more?" as a link to more information, they could actually have a link to more in depth information on whatever topic was being discussed in the video. The actual videos that got pushed out as ads would probably end up being 15-30s, with both longer in depth videos and corresponding webpage articles (covering the same info, since some people prefer one or the other) being available through "Would you like to know more?" meme-link.
Probably more net-good (for the world) if these were done in a "vendor-neutral" way with someone other than Tesla doing it and by being honest (i.e., generally, Tesla is going look the best anyways, without putting a finger on the scales) vs Tesla themselves doing it as self promotion, but it can work that way too. Ideally of Tesla does it, it shouldn't be done in a way as to make other EVs look bad except where they deserve it (i.e., terrible charge times or something), rather promoting Tesla but also raising all boats to mangle a phrase.
