You can divide my labour, anytime

December 14, 2006 9:57 AM

Harvard Economists design a recruitment video. It is unintentionally funny. Students make it even funnier.
posted by Alex404 (18 comments total)

I'm not trying to snark, but what did you find funny about that video? It was just professors who don't seem very comfortable in front of a camera giving out info.
posted by Sangermaine at 10:06 AM on December 14, 2006

You're right, that's all that's funny about it (though it raises the question of why they chose that medium for their recruiting message). However, the spoofs are pretty okay, I thought.
posted by grobstein at 10:09 AM on December 14, 2006

I guess the problem with female recruitment is that Harvard's PhD candidates have too much time on their hands so women are choosing more challenging programs at other schools?
posted by three blind mice at 10:15 AM on December 14, 2006

There is a good possibility that the whole thing was planned as viral marketing. And, it is working. Their original recruitment video is being seen by many more viewers than it would have without the spoofs.
posted by found missing at 10:16 AM on December 14, 2006

Or maybe not. I just can't tell anymore. The Internet has lost all its innocence for me. I can no longer believe everything I see.
posted by found missing at 10:22 AM on December 14, 2006

Sangermaine, what about the creepily intense way Ed on the right (here played by Steve Carell) is staring into the camera. I'm sure he's just trying to look engaged and serious, but it totally comes off as "I am Econo the Magnificent! You will bow down before me, Nobel Prize Committee! Kneel before Econo!"
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:22 AM on December 14, 2006

The first knockoff wasn't funny, but the second one was pretty good. I thought that the original was funny, but in an aren't-the-eggheads-cute-but-please-don't-feed-them sort of way, not because they embarrass themselves. Not like Agency.com did with their Subway video.
posted by dammitjim at 10:33 AM on December 14, 2006

I love cut-up videos, so the second parody is sufficient redemption for an otherwise painful and (as Sangermaine noted) awkward set of videos.
posted by boo_radley at 10:38 AM on December 14, 2006

The original is okay, but it's no Erlang movie. The spoofs were pretty good though.
posted by chairface at 10:44 AM on December 14, 2006

Where's Barats and Bereta when you need them?
posted by maudlin at 10:50 AM on December 14, 2006

oh man the second half of the second video was amazing.
posted by casconed at 11:11 AM on December 14, 2006

The guy on the right could be played by Steve Carell in a heartbeat.
posted by deliquescent at 11:21 AM on December 14, 2006

Was this supposed to be funny "ha ha" or funny "ho ho"?
posted by triolus at 11:23 AM on December 14, 2006

LOL! WACKY STEWDENTZ!
posted by ernie at 11:51 AM on December 14, 2006

Max Headroom in the hizzy.
posted by spicynuts at 8:09 PM on December 14, 2006

so, is that a genuine economics equation?
posted by Maias at 8:35 PM on December 14, 2006

I'm surprised the second video didn't make use of the bit at 00:55 in the original, where Ed finishes talking about room arrangements, closes his eyes, gives us a little kiss, and then gazes smokily into the camera. Stirring stuff.
posted by chrismear at 2:44 AM on December 15, 2006

... Erlang ...

Oh, shit -- the third guy in that short is a ringer for a young Graham Chapman. He even sounds a bit like him. I just couldn't take anything seriously after he came on screen.

Not like Agency.com did with their Subway video.

Lord, that was creepy. I had to stop watching after about two minutes to save my breakfast from coming up.
posted by lodurr at 5:40 AM on December 15, 2006