Squarespace teamed up with Dolly Parton to deliver an ad featuring a revamped version of the country star's "9 to 5."
Sunday's Super Bowl 55 events delivered quite a show, which promised a slew of new commercials to entertain audiences. One particular Super Bowl ad was met with some controversy, however, after it used a newer version of Dolly Parton's iconic 1980 song, "9 to 5," which won her Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance (Female) categories.
In a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon (via Vanity Fair), Parton explained how "9 to 5" was reinterpreted to become "5 to 9," referring to the "side hustle" or second (or third) jobs that some people pursue after their corporate jobs are done for the day. Parton explained that she partnered with Squarespace, a website building and hosting company aimed at "people who are starting businesses, for a lot of young people, a lot of entrepreneurs."
The Super Bowl ad showed young people sitting in their desks in what looked like a dreary office. As upbeat music starts to play, Parton sings, "Working five to nine, you've got passion and a vision 'cuz it's hustlin' time, a whole new way to make a livin', gonna change your life, do something that gives it meaning."
"Five to nine, you keep working, working, working, working five to nine, 'til your dreams come true," Parton sings as the employees in the Super Bowl ad for Squarespace begin changing their muted outfits into colorful casual ones and dancing inside cubicles that showcase their "side hustles," from gardening to painting, woodwork to hairdressing, and scuba-diving to baking.
While the Super Bowl ad is encouraging people about working for and pursuing their dreams, some have taken it to mean something detrimental: forcing people to work well overtime. According to The Blaze, several news outlets have condemned the reimagining of Dolly Parton's iconic song in the Superbowl ad, calling it "tone-deaf."
The Super Bowl ad featuring Parton's reimagined song was criticized by Newsweek's David Shirota, who wrote that it "valorizes the side hustle economy and normalizes its radical assumptions that workaholism is necessary and that there is no separation between work and the rest of your life," thus creating an unhealthy imbalance.
NBC News' Kim Kelly also criticized the Super Bowl ad, writing that it "portrayed as being overjoyed to continue working after hours, their side hustles are painted as freeing, fun and fulfilling, and the song itself encourages them to 'be your own boss, climb your own ladder.'"
The Superbowl ad that celebrates working for one's dreams was quickly defended by numerous Twitter users, however, who stepped into the debate to point out that it's more about "how most small businesses are started"-as a hobby.
Twitter user @DePernaProperty mused, "What's wrong with working? Millions of us go to work every day and dream of someday working for ourselves to have more freedom and independence."
She wrote, "The point is, we work hard no matter what for ourselves and our families. This work ethic is worthy of praise."
Squarespace has turned off commenting on the YouTube video of the Super Bowl ad and has yet to comment on the issue.
