Bizarre Foreign Commercials, Vol. 2
By popular demand, Ration Reality revisits the vast whatthefucktitude of international broadcast advertising. Just remember, you wanted this. It’s all for you, Damien. All for you…
Canadian Convenience Store Beverage
If Dr. Freud had lived to see this unbelievable spot from the frozen north, it would have killed him. Not only would it have ended his life, but it would have done so in spectacular cartoon fashion with steam coming from his ears, eyes bulging from their sockets and hair bolting up from his scalp. The sexual subtext of this ad is so straightforward, even my parents could see it.
Please allow me to set this up for you: two dreamily-beautiful young ladies start the commercial off by playing the touchy-feelie “criss-cross, applesauce” game with one another near what appears to be a tall tree. Their grope-and-ticklefest is interrupted by a voice from above saying “Is there any applesauce…left for me?” The camera sweeps back to reveal the torso of a handsome, well-sculpted man fused to the top of the tree trunk. The startled young lasses quickly become indignant and say “We’ve got something else for you, perv!” Promptly, they grab axes (this is Canada, after all) and begin to chop into the tree trunk, with the man moaning and groaning, though more like a man in the throes of Ecstasy than one in severe pain. After a couple of hearty “whacks”, an orange liquid spurts from the exposed pulp of the tree, whereupon the maidens hold out clear, plastic cups (with the letters WTF printed on them) to collect the fluid, then lean in and catch it in their mouths and on their tongues.
(Excuse me for a moment. Thanks.)
Okay. So, this commercial ran to promote Mac’s, one of the largest convenience store chains in Canada. More specifically, it is to bring awareness to their new slushy drink (they call them “Frosters”) flavor, called WTF. (Representatives for Mac’s claim ‘WTF’ stands for “What’s The Flavo(u)r?”. Uh-huh.) The ads were handled by an ad agency known as Bos Toronto. I know Canadian broadcast standards are a bit lower than those in the US, though not as permissive as in Europe.) It would seem like the ads were designed to be so provocative as to be “banned” from broadcast on traditional outlets, thus gaining them more publicity, then circulated on media-sharing outlets like YouTube. If they wanted backlash publicity and viral online marketing, they certainly got it. A related campaign, STFU (Suck the Froster Up), was banned by the Empire Theatres Cinema chain, generating much publicity. Also , these ads have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube alone. Plus, I’ve just played into their hand by writing this article. Oh, well. Fuck me.
Mac’s is a holding of Laval, QC-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Yes, the word “tard” is even in their corporate name!) Stores can be found all over Central and Western Canada, as well as in a few US states. Official site.
Bloody Zit
Egg
Hate Crime
Robot Love
Related posts:
Ape, what’s the flavor with these Canadians? Funny stuff. Note to Keywork Supporters in the Denver area: check my blog for a campaign update. Thanks, RR, for allowing this shameless promotion. I owe you.
keywork.
23 Oct 07 at 12:21 pm
Wow. Just, wow.
Okay, so the first one, are they drinking the tree’s piss or its semenal fluids? And that whole criss cross applesauce bullshit took way too fucking long.
On Bloody Zit - those two kids looked an awful lot alike. They’re incestuous siblings?
On Egg - were those two guys gay or something? not that there’s anything wrong with that. And did they really just drink from something that came from that guy’s ass? there is something wrong with that.
Hate Crime - that was great. I love mascot on mascot violence.
and with Robot Love - again, what’s up with them drinking cum? Am i missing out on something here?
SEOHack
23 Oct 07 at 4:41 pm
Thanks, Key! Good luck w/ the campaign!
@ SEOHack: The homoerotic nature of these ads is totally overwhelming. Also, swallowing is not something Canadians are known for. At least in the Greater Totonto area. But, then I could just be a loser. Ya think?
Soylent Ape
23 Oct 07 at 11:14 pm
Hate crime is my favorite. But, then, hatecrimes usually are the best.
bagel of everything
24 Oct 07 at 12:20 am
They were clearly different colors, weren’t they? He certainly bled a lot from the knee.
Soylent Ape
24 Oct 07 at 6:13 am
The red one had a Wounded Knee…
Symbolism?
bagel of everything
24 Oct 07 at 6:39 am
Wow, Bagel! I didn’t even catch that. You could safely say he’d made his “last stand” after wounding his knee so severely, too.
Soylent Ape
24 Oct 07 at 4:44 pm
“Holy mackerel, look at all those fucking Indians.”
keywork.
24 Oct 07 at 5:07 pm
These — and particularly that first one — would, I think, make a bishop kick a hole through a stained-glass window.
antisocialist
24 Oct 07 at 11:44 pm
@ Keywork: We’re everywhere! (The raccoon, incidentally, is a spirit guide.)
@ antisocialist:It’s enough to make a Keynsian back up his currency with a precious metal standard. You have to give Mac’s “credit”. I have “full faith” that these ads are bringing 14 year-old boys into their stores like a horde of slushie-guzzling locusts.
Soylent Ape
25 Oct 07 at 6:11 am
Indeed, as Custer pointed out, you are. And yes, I am a spirit guide. Vote.
keywork.
25 Oct 07 at 10:31 am
What…was all that? The last was particularly…er…interesting.
Cody
26 Oct 07 at 12:50 am
@ Cody: Yeah. It doesn’t particularly make me want to buy one, but something tells me I’m not the target demographic for these ads.
Soylent Ape
26 Oct 07 at 5:24 am
How the f did I miss these the other day??? Awesome…
Any complaints about me pimping this out as part of my “friday video fun”? ;)
whatpushesmybuttons
26 Oct 07 at 8:29 am
[...] Today’s video installment comes courtesy of our neighbors from the north, who apparently have raised the bar for commercials which blatently cross the line between…well let’s just say these commercials would never fly in the good ole prudish U S of A. [...]
WTF??? Is right!!! « What Pushes My Buttons
26 Oct 07 at 9:03 am
No complaints, WPMB! Thanks for the love
bagel of everything
26 Oct 07 at 1:06 pm
@ WPMB: Glad you enjoyed all this pure, digital hype! Thanks for the blog-love!
Soylent Ape
26 Oct 07 at 5:20 pm
Anyone notice that the Mac’s logo includes a winking owl? It used to be a cat. I wonder if that’s got something to to with all the innuendo with this campaign…
Soylent Ape
18 Nov 07 at 1:06 pm
It’s O Rly!
bagel of everything
18 Nov 07 at 5:09 pm
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