Earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter asked Charlie Brooker, creator of Netflix’s anthology series Black Mirror, how he can take almost any topic to a dark and dystopian place. Brooker admitted to having “a lot of neuroses and worrying about horrible but logical consequences. I can’t look at anything without thinking, ‘How could that hurt me?’” he said.
Thus far, the long-running series hasn’t taken on the topic of home meal kits—but maybe it should. Next week, Blue Apron will begin airing three spots that head of marketing Raina Enand is first to say are distinctively Black Mirror-like.
“Hopefully when you watch it,” she said, “it should look like something that you would not expect from Blue Apron.”
And you probably wouldn’t. That’s because the characters in these spots are trapped in a nightmare realm controlled by nefarious subscription plans—which have been Blue Apron’s revenue model since its 2012 founding.
But now that model is gone, replaced by à la carte ordering.
The three ads—the final piece of a comprehensive brand overhaul—follow a similar story line. They open with people trapped in a gray, Orwellian world where it’s impossible to do anything from unfasten a seatbelt to get a beverage from a vending machine without committing to prepayment.
“We turned subscription fatigue into a dystopian fever dream,” said Angela Campos, creative and commercial director of Quirk, the agency behind the work. “Trust me, it’s a lot more fun to watch than to live through.”
These slate gray visions give way to a happier, freer world where purchase flexibility and consumer autonomy have returned. “Somewhere along the way, you had to subscribe to everything—even dinner,” intones a narrator in one spot. “With the new Blue Apron, you don’t.”
The video segments alone are an ambitious effort: three 30-second ads with six 15-second cuts; a 15-second homepage app video; a 16-minute video; 10 videos for social media; and seven audio versions.
But one question looms behind all of it: why is Blue Apron scuttling its revenue model in the first place?
From meal kits to á la carte
Because times change. England said that the fast-paced life that made meal subscriptions look like a good solution a decade ago has now grown so hectic that subscriptions feel confining and out of date.