Power Relationships

A cellphone company recently ran a television ad touting its call reliability, in which a young man is talking to his future father-in-law, who is telling him to address him by his first name and consider him a friend. The young man launches into a series of variations of the first name. Unknown to either party, the call is dropped and the young man does not hear any response from the father. He becomes very nervous and disconcertedly reverts to “Mr.” and “Sir.” The ad’s message is clear: Use our service and this sort of thing won’t happen.

Why do you think the ad agency chose this power relationship for its commercial, and is it one to which you can relate?
Have you had any kind of similar experience (not necessarily on a cellphone)?