Hello, I'm Orville Redenbacher..... (1 Viewer)

[Justin Lane]

I just got done watching one of the most distrubing commercials I have seen in my life. Orville Redenbacher apparently never died and is now a big fan of 30 gig MP3 players.

Take a look for yourself...

http://www.orville.com/aboutUs.jsp

Something about this just creeps me out.

J

 

[Jeremy Little]

Yeah, I saw that too. Creepy isn't even a strong enough word to describe it.

 

[John Kilduff]

This seems almost as bad as those commercials with a computer-animated Ernest hawking cars (I saw that on YouTube...Local advertising down South). I think that younger people only know Orville Redenbacher as a name and not as a person. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

"Younger people", says the 24 year old.

 

[Edwin-S]

Didn't bother me much. Redenbacher was as much a symbol of the company as he was a person. To me, this is like hiring someone to play Ronald McDonald.

 

[Justin Lane]

My problem is I remember when he was alive and did the commercials. This latest is trying to pass the CGI Orville off as a real person, with every other actor in the commercial live.

J

 

[Radioman970]

...or Col. Sanders for KFC.

I agree. But, wacky commercial or no, the popcorn still sucks. At least it did 8 years ago, the last time I bought some.

 

[MarkHastings]

Is it CG? It appears to be CG, but could it also be a look alike actor? Either way, it just seems wrong.

 

[RickER]

Going to the site, and watching the commercial, looks like a guy in makeup, a look alike. A bad one at that.

 

[Randy Tennison]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advert...lle-usat_x.htm

ConAgra revives Redenbacher for popcorn ads

A digital double for Orville Redenbacher, who died more than a decade ago, pitches popcorn while jiving to a tune on his MP3 player.

By Bruce Horovitz USA TDOAY

Orville Redenbacher, the popcorn icon who died more than a decade ago, will digitally rise from the dead during Monday's Golden Globe Awards.
In a provocative ad — whose wizardry will make waves from Madison Avenue to Hollywood — a dead-ringer for Redenbacher pitches popcorn while jiving to his MP3 player.

This ad is a big step beyond the bevy of spots in recent years that have featured dead celebrities by using real film clips inserted into other contexts, such as Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum or Audrey Hepburn in a Gap ad.

VIDEO: See a short clip of digital Orville

It's the first time a dead spokesman has been re-created as a walking, talking huckster that can be made to say or do anything.

In the ad, Redenbacher listens to his player. "Can you believe this little baby holds 30 gigs?" he says, comparing its lightness with the lightness of his popcorn. The familiar voice — close, not exact — is by an actor picked from a field of 400.

ConAgra Foods (CAG), owner of the brand, is so jazzed about Redenbacher's reincarnation that it's upped its ad budget 40% in 2007 to $20 million, says Paul Lapadat, president of snack foods. He says that's the highest ever for the brand. Redenbacher also will reappear in print ads and on packages.

Redenbacher's grandson, Gary, who appeared in past ads, is giddy over Grandpa's return. "I see it as a way to remember the man I love."

Advertising psychologist Carol Moog says there's "a certain creepiness" to reviving Redenbacher but expects it'll sell popcorn. "There's going to be a macabre fascination."

Allison Cohen, founder of PeopleTalk Research, loves the idea. "When you have a piece of brand lore that's the crux of your company, it makes sense to find a way to use it."

ConAgra won't say what it cost, but it's the brand's costliest ad ever, says Stan Jacot, vice president of marketing.

Digital Domain, special-effects creator for Titanic and Apollo 13, did the proprietary magic. "It's the most challenging thing we've ever done," says Ed Ulbrich, production head.

Three actors re-create the voice, body and a base for the face. Redenbacher's facial features, body movements and characteristic gestures are digitally grafted onto the actors frame by frame.

"We don't want people to fall over and faint because Orville's back," says Bill Wright, creative director at Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which concocted the idea. "He's picking up where he left off."

The impetus: Soft sales nudged ConAgra to air a 1976 ad with the founder about a year ago. Sales took off. So ConAgra asked, How do we bring him back?

"Grandpa would go for it. He was a cutting-edge guy," says grandson Gary. "This is a way to honor his legacy."

 

[David Williams]

At least KFC had the decency when they brought back the Colonel to go animated and hired Randy Quaid to the do the voice. This is just creepy and its not making me want to buy popcorn. Ick!

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, I was gonna say, at least with a cartoon, it's caricatured enough not to feel creepy. This feels like The Polar Express - like they put animatronics in the corpse.

 

[Chris]

It seems so creepy and wrong. The original Icon is dead. Let him rest. I didn't mind them showing the old commercials - I thought that was neat. But this guy made up to look like him is a bit sick & morbid.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Yeah, if the old commercials caused a spike in sales, get another old commercial. What's next? Digital Dave Thomas? Wendy's ads suck since he died, but I don't want him "more brainsing" around on the screen.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Mr. Sulu we are now at Creep Factor 10!



Joe

 

[Chris Lockwood]

It's almost as creepy to read that he drowned in a hot tub.


> At least KFC had the decency when they brought back the Colonel to go animated and hired Randy Quaid to the do the voice.

I remember live action ads with "Sanders" after he died. They inspired one of Entertainment Weekly's best headlines ever: "Poultrygeist"


Then there is the Tower of Terror ride at Disney with the creepy Rod Serling imitator.

 

[Blu]

The part about the commercial that probably creeps people out is that he moves like an animatronic and his voice sounds very stilted.

His motions are just very stiff and unnatural, you can notice it when his eyes blink a little better.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Many of you may not remember the post-mortum John Wayne cancer prevention commercials. He recorded them before he died intending that they be played after his death.

IIRC the ads went something like this. "Hi, this is John Wayne. By the time you see this message, I'LL BE DEAD. These damned things killed me (waves pack of smokes). If you have any brains you will quit now while you are ahead."

www.jwcf.org/wayne/index.html

 

[Radioman970]

and Yul Brenner too.

 

[Buzz Foster]

"...or my name's not Orville Redenbacher"...

IT ISN'T! Eww!

 

[Garrett Lundy]

As Martine Luther King Jr. said ...

"Man, I should be getting a cut from this."