Am the only one a little creeped out by the zombie Orville Redenbacher in the new commercials?
I don't know that a reanimated Orville--even with an iPod--really makes me want popcorn. It's kind of like a TV ad written by a horror writer.
The man passed away in 1995. My vote is let him rest and find a living spokesperson to hawk the corn.
Addendum
I forgot to check You Tube for a version of the ad, but the Rain of Thought blog has a Google video version if you haven't seen just how strange the spot is, you can watch there. Jason, author of that blog seems to agree with my POV on the matter.
6 comments:
But isn't popcorn "brain" food? I know, I know, that was really bad. Sorry.
Didn't Pepsi try a questionable stunt like that way back in the 90s?
I don't watch television so I haven't seen it, but I'm totally for not making it illegal to use dead folks in advertising... without their permission. Even Apple's dead-celebrity "Think Different" campaign rubbed me the wrong way.
Good point, Charles.
Yeah, Cliff, somebody had John Wayne in a spot - it was for beer or a soft drink and had R. Lee Ermey in it too.
They also had Fred Astair dancing with a vacuum cleaner once, but neither of those is quite as creepy as the Orville.
I can't believe that spot was green-lighted.
Thank you for posting about this. I saw it for the first time and felt uneasy. I put down what I was doing and gaped. It just looked and felt wrong.
Obviously cgi...obviously creepy.
Then Saturday night a group of friends came over and we all sat around watching TV. On comes the popcorn commercial. The room falls silent, all eyes riveted.
This is wrong. So wrong.
Of course, it does open some doors for interactive porn, doesn't it?
Thank you for posting about this. I saw it for the first time and felt uneasy. I put down what I was doing and gaped. It just looked and felt wrong.
Obviously cgi...obviously creepy.
Then Saturday night a group of friends came over and we all sat around watching TV. On comes the popcorn commercial. The room falls silent, all eyes riveted.
This is wrong. So wrong.
Of course, it does open some doors for interactive porn, doesn't it?
I got the Jan. 22 Advertising Age in the mail today and it has a cover story - Con Agra is pleased with the buzz that's been generated. More Zombie Orville (aka Deadenbacher) spots are on the way.
Ad critic Bob Garfield gives the spot one star in his ad review in the back of the mag.
The company says they needed Dead Orville to spread the word about news and innovation and that once the shock and awe pass he'll be a great pitchman.
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