creativity, curiosity, opinions

Yesterday I was checking out Creativity-Online and I came across a screen shot for a commercial that stood out like a sore thumb, or better yet… a boner in sweatpants.  To describe it as best I can without dwelling on the details, it was a comically rendered, marker drawn penis complete with two testicular legs and a “go get ’em” attitude.  With absolutely no hesitation, I clicked the video link and the minute long saga began.  It was a classic story line of boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy gets girl back.  The dilemma… Willie didn’t have a “Jimmy”.  Like a quarterback with no lineman or the president without his secret service, there was no protection… he was screwed (not literally though, well at least not until the end).

This “Aides” awareness commercial (yes, I did spell that correctly, its French) immediately connected with me on so many levels.  First there was the holy shit moment, did I really just see an animated “johnson” chasing hand drawn “hoohoos” around a public restroom.  Yes I did… and it was awesome.  Then there was the instantaneous need to show anyone close by.  Unfortunately I was alone, but able to get it sent out pretty quickly though some emails to friends.  (I guess that reaction explains why it was ranked number on on today’s viral video charts.)  Thirdly, it reminded me of the ending to “Superbad” with the most outrageous penis drawings ever captured on film, let alone injected into the minds of innocent bystanders just trying to watch a nice wholesome family movie.  Well, maybe it wasn’t that horrible, but either way the shock and hilariousness of the cock drawings in “Superbad” have been out done a thousand time over by this Aides awareness effort.

So, what have I learned from this commercial… sex sells, but an animated orgy of “willies” and “hoohoos” will get viral faster than swine flu.

From the perspective of an advertising student this commercial leaves me with a few comments and questions.  First off, this must have taken some balls to pitch this idea to the client, and yes the pun was definitely intended.  Then again, the spot was made by TBWA Paris, so maybe the shock value I associated with this commercial is just a product of a different culture.  Meaning, I know that there is an entirely different tolerence for sex in European media as opposed to in the US.  To go along with that, I’m curious to know if this spot was meant to air on television or if it was just web only?  Also, I wasn’t able to find much info about the spot itself or the client, Aides, which is a shame because after seeing this video I was really interested in learning more.  From an art direction standpoint, this commercial is amazing.  It’s an incredibly simple idea, executed in such an interesting fashion.  I’m not surprised of its immediate success.  Does anyone know if that was animated frame by frame Disney style, or with a more tech approach?

I’d be curious to hear anyone else’s comments about the commercial, and whether you found it brilliant or horrifying or somewhere in between.