Stars: they're just like us (annoying)

I'm not entirely clear on what's supposed to be happening in this commercial.

 

Patrick Mahomes: "Jake from State Farm! What's good?"

Jake: "Patrick?"

Patrick: "Nah, fam - just your typical sneakerhead working here for the employee discount..." [makes uninterpretable hand motion for some reason] "...but speaking of deals, I heard regular guys like me are getting the 'Patrick price' - that can't be real, right?"

Jake: "Listen, State Farm offers rates that fit any budget, even yours, 'typical sneakerhead.'"
Patrick: "Wow, just anyone now?"

Jake: "Yeah."

Patrick: [grabbing shoes Jake is looking at] "Man.  These just sold out, then!"

When I first saw this ad, it seemed like the idea was that Patrick was learning he was able to get great rates from State Farm, and thus the shoes "sold out" because Patrick, with all his newfound disposable income, was going to buy them himself.  I was ready to rip the ad for its poor internal logic since, after all, if this is really Patrick (which Jake's sarcastic tone on "typical sneakerhead" makes clear), he's already got State Farm with the "Patrick price" and thus already has access to the deal that ostensibly makes him able to buy the shoes.

But then I thought about it some more and realized that there was an alternate interpretation: namely, that Patrick is approaching Jake in disguise to confront him about the possibility that Jake has been giving away what he thought was his special "Patrick price" to just anyone, and then taking the shoes away out of nothing more than mere spite.  The existence of this other ad in the series, in which Patrick gets all up in his feelings upon learning that other people have gotten the same rate that he has, seems to confirm that this is the actual angle:

 

Why Patrick Mahomes, who has a nine-figure net worth, needs to be worrying much about his own insurance premiums let alone anyone else's, is anybody's guess.  But I must say I'm still confused about the "Sneakerhead" ad.  Am I supposed to believe that Mahomes does in fact work at this sneaker place for an employee discount (when, as mentioned, he is extremely wealthy), and just happened to bump into Jake there?  Or is the idea that he is just posing as a service worker to confront Jake (whom he has presumably been stalking all day) about the rumors he's heard regarding State Farm's rates?

The "Gym" ad does a much better job of getting across the same message - State Farm has rates so good, you'll think we personalized them for you, and also Patrick Mahomes is for some reason a little baby who is very upset to find out they weren't actually personalized - without being extremely difficult to parse.  Indeed, I think the concept of this series of State Farm ads (you'll think you're getting a secret personal deal) is reasonably clever, even if the execution is often fairly grating.  Like this one that debuted in mid-2020:

 

How many times do you think Nick Offerman turned them down before they realized they could just get another guy with a beard and have him do that voice?

Russell: "Jake from State Farm, I would like to formally extend my gratitude for the 'Russell rate' on my insurance."

Jake: "Do you mean, surprisingly great rates from State Farm?"

Russell: "I don't believe in accepting help, but I'll make an exception."

I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.  Freedom-loving libertarians still love our insurance rates?  Hey, can you name an actor who famously played a libertarian and also sounds exactly like this guy?

By the way, I love how many of these ads show people hanging out with their insurance agent.  In real life, if you see your insurance agent more than once or twice a year, things are probably not going very well for you.

Jake: "Here's the deal, Russell: there's no special rate.  These prices are for everyone!"

Russell: "With the oak and the eagle as witness, consider us square."

Shut the fuck up.

[presents Jake with a wood carving of himself]

Hey, can you name anyone with this exact voice and a beard who also does wood carving?  Can you?  Honestly, Offerman probably has a legal argument that they deliberately traded on his image.

Russell: "I made that from memory.  I know your face that well."

Just for good measure, how about we go out on a Groundhog Day ripoff... joke?  I guess it's supposed to be a joke.  It's more just weird.

To some extent, I guess this shows you that making ads isn't easy.  You come up with a decent premise, but it's hard to produce ads using that premise that don't feature annoying weirdos (especially since part of the conceit is that they refuse to listen as Jake explains that they didn't get a personalized rate - except for Mahomes, who accepts that he didn't get a personalized rate and then pisses his pants about it).  Do you try to think of something else or just run with the concept that requires your pitchman to play straight man to some of the world's most annoying people?  Given that we've seen at least nine different ads in this series, it's pretty clear what they went with.