Film maker Max Isaacson is making a name for himself with a fake Sprite ad that he wrote, directed and produced. The fake spot connects the pleasures of oral sex with the thirst quenching taste of Sprite. A lot of people thought the banned "commercial" was real, which is understandable if you've seen some of the spots that do air in Europe. Isaacson has issued a press statement explaining that the Coca-Cola company (the makers of Sprite) is in no way connected to his fake commercial.I think the "spot" is genius for a couple of reasons. It does a brilliant job of satirizing the sexualization of commercials and it also exposes people to the work of Isaacson. I fully expect that the fake ad will lead to more work for Max. Also, I think it's cool that Sprite hasn't threatened Max with any litigation over the fake ad.
The video player below contains the fake Sprite ad and interview with Max Isaacson on the internet series The Young Turks in which he explains why he made the "ad". If you are offended by overt sexuality, be forewarned. Of course you probably won't be able to resist clicking "play" now will you?
2 comments:
Isaacson seems pretty clueless, the least bit self-aware or nalytical. That surprises me, for the short film, in and of itself is brilliant in so many respects. First of all, the fact that there was some confusion as to the commercial's authenticity demonstrates clearly that he has learned the language and style of advertising language (in fact, I'm betting that's the reason Coke won't sue him--it is an effective ad for their product, and they can distance themselves completely from the production; a win-win as far as they're concerned). If he didn't, no one would be talking about this. Second, had Isaacson been a bit more quick on the uptake, one could easily see this as apt satire on the phenomenon of advertising, a spoofing that borders on analytic deconstruction. Third, one need only see it once to have it etched in memory, which is critical in a mediasphere like the Internet that has so much competition.
X. Dell: Thanks for the feedback. I really hope that this ad leads to some feature film/TV series work for Isaacson because I want to see more of what he can do behind the camera.
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