'Junk sleep' is a slippery slope to criminality, warns Liev Schreiber for Mattress Firm

New spot from Droga5 shows how insomnia can quickly spiral

Published On
Feb 04, 2022

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Liev Schreiber is back with another darkly humorous tale of depravity due to poor sleep habits for Mattress Firm, in the latest spot for the brand by Droga5. 

The first spots in the campaign launched last July with scenarios including a father who left a child at school and co-workers who press reply all, due to lack of sleep. But the latest scenario goes even further. This time the gravel-voiced Schreiber is warning us that junk sleep can be a "slippery slope"....and that's to a life of crime.

Seated in a diner, Schreiber points to a sleep-deprived woman who can barely string a sentence together due to poor sleep in a bad bed. Her lack of concentration leads her to befriend some hoodlums. Before she knows it, she's quit her job and is robbing the diner in a ski mask.

Tom Noakes from Prettybird directed the ad, which will air during the Winter Olympics on NBC.

The catastrophic spiral/cautionary tale nature of the storytelling reminds us a little of the DirecTV "cable effects" campaign from the last decade, which depicted the rapid downfall of people who didn't switch to that cable provider. It's a fun way, however, to get us thinking about the effects of lack of sleep at a time when wellness and mental health is top of mind.