One of my favorite TV commercials ever produced was, typically, a viral ad.
It featured a suicide bomber failing in his mission to blow up two shadowy characters in a crowded sidewalk cafe because he made the mistake of punching the detonator inside his VW Polo.
So I'm not the most sensitive person in the world. I laughed until I nearly wet myself.
A year later, after loads of people weighed in on one side or the other (One side: "that's disgusting!" The other: "lighten up."), and after the makers issued a formal apology for making the spot, VW has a fluffy guardian-angel campaign to make us forget all that nastiness.
Though they'd never admit to doing such a thing, I'd be willing to bet VW did some research on how the Polo sold after the viral spot made its rounds and caused its controversy. I'd also be willing to bet there were a lot of interested potential buyers.
I'd imagine, though, interest dropped in the 18 – 30 Middle Eastern male demographic.
4 comments:
Have you seen the Sportka viral ads? They are just as funny (and potentially offensive)
Two of my favorite real commercials.
This one I never actually saw as a commercial, I caught it on one of those "World's greatest commercials" or something like that. A guy is driving around a dirt parking lot at a monster truck show, trying to find a space. Two or three times he is beaten to a space by someone quicker. Then he sees a nice, big, open slot at the end of a line of cars, guns the engine and whips into it. About three seconds after he gets out of the car, a monster truck comes flying over the line of cars and lands on his.
Second one is a "got milk" commercial that ran for a very short time (I suspect they had complaints and pulled it). Two kids at the breakfast table, Mom tells them to drink their milk. One of the kids says "Mr. Smith doesn't drink milk and he's fine!" Then they look out the window to see old Mr. Smith ready to pick up his garbage can, and when he does his arms fall off. The kids suddenly start drinking their milk. The last shot is old Mr. Smith standing in front of his garbage can (with no arms!) saying "Oh, that's not good."
I have seen the Sportka spots. I still watch the "Cat" spot and giggle uncontrollably.
An editor friend of mine and I went through the thing almost frame-by-frame to see how they did it. It's really disturbingly clean. A great piece of special effects work.
My favorite "Got Milk?" spot is the famous "Aaron Burr." It's the one where a geek is eating a peanut butter sandwich and listening to a radio trivia show. The prize is a million dollars, and the question is, "who shot Alexander Hamilton" (or something like that)? Quick cuts around the geek's home reveal he's a Hamilton/Burr freak, with portraits, charts, and the bullet.
Of course, his phone begins to ring as the show randomly calls him.
And of course, his mouth is all gummed up with peanut butter. He's mumbling "Aaarooo Buhhhh, Aaaarruuuuuh Buhhhhhh!" as he runs to the fridge. No milk. No money. So very funny.
I love that spot! "Aaaaoon buhhh" is still a big joke around our house
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