Adverts: Real and Literal

When did television adverts become so literal?

I came across this Cornetto advert advertising their new ice-cream - black and white - on tv one night. And as always, true to South African form, it was laced with literal content. A black female and a white male enjoying the ice cream together. I applaud Cornetto for embracing the new South African era and that different races can share love and romance, but I don't see why adverts should be so literal. I mean, it's an ice cream for goodness sake - why does it have to relay 'hidden meanings'or be 'indirectly' hard hitting. I don't need to hear about races or be reminded of past time racism from an ice cream advert thanks. Although it showcases the 2 'colours' together in unity, it simultaneously shows them separated and isolated. Or is this just over analysing?

If we take any product or advert and apply this same type of literal showcasing then when advertising car insurance, a gruesome video needs to be displayed on the advert showcasing blood splattered, bodies on the road and a car that is now squashed to the size of a ruler. Or take drugs for example, let's see someone injected heroine into their bruised infected arm. Or better yet, when it comes to fast food adverts let's see the real reason why the food tastes so good (Macdonald's processed chicken we see on Youtube.)

Or maybe this would actually be a good thing? Maybe adverts need to be more literal? Or maybe we should leave the real and literal aspects to documentarys and other tv programmes? I frankly don't feel like hard hitting adverts when it's actually 8 o clock and I'm lying on the couch trying to forget about the world.

Case in point, I don't like the advert. Why do you HAVE to show a black female and a white male just because the ice cream is called black and white? Is the creative team behind this advert running out of creative thinking? And when it comes to ice cream, let's just focus on the taste and characteristics of the ice cream.