W+K Portland delves into the Kennedy back story in new corporate ‘Moms’ ad for P&G

Wieden+Kennedy Portland seems to have inherited the mantle of the late, great film director John Ford: re-inventing American myths for contemporary Americans.

In Ford’s case it was Monument Valley and John Wayne; for W+K it’s Eminem and Clint Eastwood for Chrysler, the ‘rust belt’ for Levi’s, the whole universe for Facebook and ‘Moms,’ a pretty big category, for Procter & Gamble.

Its latest corporate opus for P&G features Pam Shriver (once married to Terminator Arnie) talking about her mother Eunice (who died in 2009), a member of the Kennedy clan as sister to John, Robert and Edward.

Eunice Kennedy helped to start the Special Olympics (a parallel but separate event to the Paralympics), originally at the luxurious (and oft-times notorious) Kennedy ‘compound’ in Hyannis Port.

So she was a ‘mom,’ according to Pam, who gave other people (like Pam) and their offspring a chance in life.

Well maybe; the case is made pretty convincingly. But Pam would surely admit that being a Kennedy gave you a bit more of a chance in life than was afforded to most people.

Give W+K credit though: it treads boldly in these potentially shark-infested waters and comes out with most of its creative extremities still in one piece.