watch out for flying watermelons

May 25, 2006 3:28 PM

TANGO'D! remember that awesome sony advert with all the bouncy balls in san francisco? well british drink firm tango have made an great parody of it. however, the residents of swansea north, where the ad was filmed, are not too happy. beautiful music provided by josé gonzalez (review) . [via]
posted by christy (45 comments total)

You know when you've been viral'd.
posted by jack_mo at 3:35 PM on May 25, 2006

Tango is a brand owned by the same company behind PepsiBlue, by the way.
posted by tapeguy at 3:36 PM on May 25, 2006

I'm very worried about the safety of the little frog. (Hopkins?)
posted by The Monkey at 3:38 PM on May 25, 2006

whatev. I'm always down for a good parody. Four stars! (minus one for blatent shilling)
****
posted by indiebass at 3:38 PM on May 25, 2006

"The filming of this TV advert traumatized many small, domestic animals and a number of our older residents are now too afraid to leave their homes."
posted by sellout at 3:40 PM on May 25, 2006

Is that a parody, or is it just a straight-forward rip-off? I understand they've added a few humorous elements not present in the original, but I don't think that takes the idea far enough to qualify as a parody. It seems to me tango suffered from a distinct lack of new ideas, and simply copied one they thought was cool: "We'll add a few new shots and tell everyone it's a 'parody'!"
posted by soiled cowboy at 3:40 PM on May 25, 2006

yeah, i'm aware of the pepsiblue aspect of this post, but i love both of these ads so much i decided i was okay with it. plus, i thought the story about the neighborhood association made it more interesting that a straight, 'look at this ad!' post.

soiled cowboy: i hesitated when i typed parody, but decided it was as good a word as any. i think using fruit was clever/funny enough to qualify as at least a worthwhile rip-off.
posted by christy at 3:44 PM on May 25, 2006

The 'outraged locals' site is registered to 'Chi Advertising', surprise!
posted by atrazine at 3:44 PM on May 25, 2006

You know when you've been viral'd

Definitely has that vibe to it.

But I dunno. Knowing that a company dumped a bunch of fruit on some unsuspecting town kind of makes me want to purposely not drink that particular beverage. As a viral marketing campaign, this one is poorly conceived.
posted by Drunken_munky at 3:45 PM on May 25, 2006

That residents page is super-fako. Weak.
posted by RokkitNite at 3:48 PM on May 25, 2006

Yeah, the local residents' website is part of the campaign.
posted by blag at 3:48 PM on May 25, 2006

The Swansea outrage site is definitely a fake.
Shame on you for not noticing.
posted by seanyboy at 3:49 PM on May 25, 2006

Are you kidding, Drunken_munky? Have another look at the 'Swansea North Residents Association' site. Or read atrazine's comment.
posted by jack_mo at 3:49 PM on May 25, 2006

atrazine: damn! well, i still like the ads. let's turn this into a, how is advertising changing in the internet age, thread.
posted by christy at 3:49 PM on May 25, 2006

Good advert though.
posted by seanyboy at 3:49 PM on May 25, 2006

Like the Lilt parody of the Levi's ad.
posted by matthewr at 3:50 PM on May 25, 2006

What about mince pies rolling down the streets of Glasgow ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:51 PM on May 25, 2006

The residents' site has to be part of the viral campaign. A shoot like that that would require permits, notices posted to everyone on the block, police/security, etc. Residents' cars would have been required to be moved or be towed. The shot of the broken window featured so prominently that it had to be staged...I find it pretty surprising that a film crew would pitch a watermelon through Sarah Evans' window without at least, you know, knocking and letting her know first. And if the production company left all the food on the street, the city would send them a bill for the cleanup along with a big fine.

The production company that shot the Sony ad had to take all sorts of precautions to contain the superballs, including plugging up sewer grates:

"An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you'd know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets."

I call Pepsi Blue.
posted by eatyourlunch at 3:54 PM on May 25, 2006

This isn't anywhere near as brilliant as the French-baiting Tango "St George" advert...
posted by blag at 3:54 PM on May 25, 2006

atrazine: damn! well, i still like the ads.

You really thought it was real, christy? Yeah, right. If you keep this up I'll start thinking there's a few quid from Tango in your back pocket...
posted by jack_mo at 3:58 PM on May 25, 2006

jack_mo: actually i did. i just don't think about how far ad companies are going these days to build up a story around their ads. believe what you like, but being in the us and a non cola drinker i'd never even heard of tango before this.
posted by christy at 4:01 PM on May 25, 2006

Fair dos, I can see how it might be slightly less obvious not being from the UK, but stuff like this:

Mother of 14 Gwyn has served in the Residents Association for over seven years. Now Vice-President, she is a veteran of over half a dozen campaigns to restore local landmarks – including the much-loved "Peeing Boy" on Dumster Hill.

or:

Eileen survived both wars with the utmost composure, but couldn’t contain her anger when her home was bombarded by kiwis and citrus fruit.

or just about any other line of copy on the site absolutely screams piss-take to my eyes.
posted by jack_mo at 4:06 PM on May 25, 2006

And having looked around to cut and paste those examples, it really is rather well done. (And a fiver says CHI have will be showing the agency that commissioned them to do the site this thread first thing tomorrow. Must've been a right laugh to make it.)
posted by jack_mo at 4:11 PM on May 25, 2006

The TV ads section of the CHI Advertising website has a bunch of Tango ads.
posted by matthewr at 4:14 PM on May 25, 2006

I think they must have had great fun putting together the awful local residents site design. Of course they might have been inspired by some genuine Welsh local residents sites. Like this one.
posted by rongorongo at 4:32 PM on May 25, 2006

Viral or not, it's huge fun, thanks for posting christy.

I like the little touches such as this from the "Brecon Beacon Herald":

"... Not only was her front garden strewn with seven different varieties of fruit but her beloved gnome “Nigel” lay wounded, beaten by a bevy of fresh fruits."

"Mrs Davies has put the remnants of "Nigel" the gnome for sale on internet auction site ebay, hoping that the interesting story behind how he got broken will make up for the loss of his value as an antique."

Mind you, the Brecon Beacon Herald, if it existed, wouldn't be reporting on Swansea affairs. Oh no.

[For Welsh MeFites: I'd have loved to have seen Huw's nephew referred to as Dai the Camera ;-)]
posted by ceri richard at 4:32 PM on May 25, 2006

Dai the Camera ;-)

Hah! I thought that was a stereotype gag, until I actually heard someone use it.

[For Welsh MeFites: I'd have loved to have seen Huw's nephew referred to as Dai the Camera ;-)]

I'm not Welsh, but my Mom and Nan are, so I hope it's alright to chuckle at that. And I wish I knew enough Welsh to fashion a sophisticated joke involving this ad campaign by a London-based agency and the phrase 'nid yw Cymru ar werth'. (God, I hope I got that right...)
posted by jack_mo at 5:01 PM on May 25, 2006 [1 favorite]

That is a cover of the Jose Gonzalez song, which is itself a cover of a song by The Knife. Even Lulu knows this.
posted by fire&wings at 6:04 PM on May 25, 2006

Is that a parody, or is it just a straight-forward rip-off?

Straight-up ripoff. "Advertising ethics" is one of them there oxymorons.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:36 PM on May 25, 2006

Other great tango ads. seal and apple seduction are classic!
posted by lalochezia at 8:54 PM on May 25, 2006

Okay, back to the sony one for a sec...why did they bother using real superballs? Seems like the kind of thing that would have been easier/cheaper to do with cg?
posted by juv3nal at 9:09 PM on May 25, 2006

I really don't care for all this Pepsi Blue-calling. The original ad was cool - who cares if it's an ad, it's a cool video. This parody (and yes, I think it falls under the parody umbrella) is also cool, in the same way. Stop being such humbugs about it and enjoy a fun little video! The fake residents site is even entertainingly complete!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:39 PM on May 25, 2006

“Sometimes you have to make a mess to dramatise fruit refreshment to the consumer”
posted by IronLizard at 9:48 PM on May 25, 2006

Okay, you guys, this is my first call-out, tell me how I do:

That is a cover of the Jose Gonzalez song

You are wrong. That is, in fact, the Jose Gonzalez version.

(I hate confrontation!)
posted by Ian A.T. at 10:08 PM on May 25, 2006

I really don't care for all this Pepsi Blue-calling.

Agree completely. It's a funny parody, and yes, it is an advertising gimmick - but much more FPP worthy than some of the Apple stuff that gets posted. It's also in a fine tradition of Tango adverts: try here, here and here for more.
posted by greycap at 10:11 PM on May 25, 2006

Hell, I want me some Tango now. Maybe the imitation should flow the other way?
posted by dhartung at 10:54 PM on May 25, 2006

andys@pepperami:~$ whois swansea-res.org.uk

Domain name:
swansea-res.org.uk

Registrant:
CHI advertising

Registrant type:
Not supplied

Registrant's address:
7 Rathbone St
London
W1T 1LY
GB


I must admit though, it had me for a second...
posted by robzster1977 at 1:48 AM on May 26, 2006

Straight-up ripoff. "Advertising ethics" is one of them there oxymorons.

Looks like you don't know what a parody is, then.
posted by macdara at 2:47 AM on May 26, 2006

Great ad. Obviously viral, but still a hell of a lot of fun. And juv3nal - I think the obvious answer to why Sony used real superballs is because "It was damn cool" :) And said coolness factor led to a ton of word of mouth, which your fancy CGI just can't buy.

Flickr photoset from a castmember
posted by antifuse at 3:04 AM on May 26, 2006

Great ad, I'm originally from Swansea, and was back visiting my parents when this was filmed, the local paper had a couple of articles about it at the time. I'd completely forgotten about it, until this post.
posted by lloyder at 3:30 AM on May 26, 2006

Hm, marketing assholes are throwing fresh food on the street.
posted by gum at 4:18 AM on May 26, 2006

More spoofing: Nike aint got nothing on these guys.
posted by brautigan at 4:51 AM on May 26, 2006

The best tango advert of them all was the one which first stated "you know when you've been tango'd" which involved a man in an orange suit appearing and slapping drinkers of tango in the face.

Which probably started happy slapping lol
posted by 13twelve at 6:56 AM on May 26, 2006

The only Tango Ad I've seen, being an american, was on a tape of B5 that someone had recorded in England. It involved a cult-like gathering of raver-style punk kids, chanting what sounded like 'Go-Tan!, Go-Tan!', while the leader of the mob poured orange soda on a orange doll figure. Afer a few seconds of that, it cut to a young man trying on pants in the dressing room of a department store, who was startled when the curtan was pulled back, and a huge man, dressed as a viking slapped him in the face with a fish a few times, then skipped away. Needless to say, I had no idea what the product was, but I knew I needed it.
posted by Davidicus at 7:37 PM on May 26, 2006

Anyone getting the urge for a smoothy?
posted by webfanatic at 9:56 PM on May 30, 2006