The Wario outfit in this tax commercial is not an accident

In the weeks leading up to Tax Day in the U.S., I have seen H&R Block’s “gamer” ad ahead of… every video. The tax prep company has successfully targeted me and I am not alone: according to visible YouTube numbers, its preroll placement means it’s been viewed 24.1 million times in the last three months. It’s everywhere. 

The ad sends me spiraling with each view. Not because it’s farfetched; in the 15-second spot, a couchbound young woman proclaims she has “won” her taxes to her roommate, who is mashing buttons on a nondescript console controller. But one thing goes undiscussed by the end: the commercial’s hero is dressed like Wario. Was this a costume department slip up or an intentional attempt to activate my brain worms?

I needed answers to my inane question. Remarkably, H&R Block delivered. 

“I love that you picked up on that little Easter egg,” says Wendy Fitch, H&R Block’s vice president of Brand Content and Insights, who took time out of her day of doing real work to confirm to me that the Wario costuming “was intentional” and “a subtle nod.”

I was told not to read too much into the choice of Wario; the recognizable splash of yellow and purple happened naturally during wardrobe try-ons on the day of the shooting. The fact that anyone saw the costume choices and thought, “we could put Wario’s suspenders in an H&R Block ad,” is a testament to Fitch’s MO of hiring younger creatives who can keep a gamer-themed ad authentic. In fact, when it comes to the tax prep brand wars, Fitch says, that’s everything.

The H&R Block ad also has Wario energy. Despite the cozy couch gameplay atmosphere, the ad shoots its red shell, taking direct aim at TurboTax being the obvious choice for tax prep. As pitched in the ad, H&R Block is right there to help young people “win” at their refund, they just need to consider switching. Wah-wah-wah! 

Fitch says bringing Gen Z to H&R Block is a core company objective, which is likely a core company objective of every brand under the sun. Her team is producing gamer-themed ads, creating activations in Roblox and Minecraft, and producing fairly amusing reality TV spoof content to reach the plugged-in audience where they are, in the most authentic ways possible. All of it is in service of breaking the “inertia” that most of us have with brands — which sounds sad, but incredibly accurate. 

“People are like, ‘I don’t want to start over. It’s such a pain. I don’t know what my previous year’s AGI was. I’m just going to stick with the provider I have, even if I’m unhappy.’ And so this ad in particular was intended to communicate to people specifically Gen Z.

So, would Wario use H&R Block? Does Wario pay taxes on his gold? Has he ever been audited by the Toads at the Mushroom Kingdom’s equivalent of the IRS? I am left with a lot of questions that representatives at H&R Block can’t answer, but I am thankful I can sleep once more knowing they purposefully put Wario in a commercial.