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Tan France was a huge Care Bears fan as a kid. Now, the Queer Eye fashion star is acting alongside Funshine Bear in an ongoing campaign for Alaska Airlines.
“I was the ultimate Care Bears fan as a kid. I was obsessed with the TV show. And so the fact that I get to interact with a Care Bear is really sweet,” France told Adweek.
France has been working with Alaska Airlines for two years, first appearing in a series of regional spots during last year’s Super Bowl that established The Care Coalition, a roundtable of characters both real and imagined to establish Alaska Airlines as one that truly cares about its customers.
Developed with Alaska Airlines’ longtime creative partner agency Mekanism, a 60-second spot introduced the coalition, chaired by France and also featuring TikTok star Nick Cho (@YourKoreanDad) plus Mother Nature, Grandma, a dog, a talking Snuggie and Funshine Bear.
The ads have proven popular, with this year’s “Options” spot earning a watch time of more than 25 seconds, even though it’s skippable.
A caring coalition
The adorable motley crew is back for another round of ads promoting the airline’s expansion of services to Hawaii and from San Diego. The first, “Senior Surfer,” finds France, Cho and Funshine Bear waiting for their flight when Grandma (played by Maree Cheatham) videos herself in Hawaii with Dog, promoting that Alaska has no change fees, thus the change to paradise.
The second spot features France and Cho wearing the same striped shirt, which Cho notes is “twinning,” promoting the airline’s $99 companion fare.
“Care is part of the brand DNA at Alaska, and we wanted to find a creative way to catch the attention of those who may have never flown with them before,” said Max Eastman, creative director at Mekanism. “Instead of screaming into the void about how caring Alaska is, we decided to assemble the most caring characters in the universe to do it for us. Enter the Care Coalition.”
