2.05.2007
How 'bout a burger, baby?!!
I'm surprised I haven't posted this totally awesome video to the ol' blog before now. Rewind back to 1999 - yes 1999, not the 80s. I was hugely pregnant with our son, and was captive in a hospital bed for two days, then two weeks later, for another two days. In that first stint (prior to the actual birth), there was a lot of TV watching, and I kept seeing this weird, bad Subway ad. It looked so 80s -- all sorts of neon and grids, and of course, the woman with the huge hair and sparkly 80s dress. I found it repellent, yet I was compelled; was it supposed to be a nostalgia thing? The timing didn't seem quite right for 80s nostalgia -- not yet, anyway.
Much to my surprise, the ad started running again last spring. We made sure to catch it on the Tivo™, and found there were a few other bloggers out there scratching their heads. I'm going to post an article that originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer press, which pretty much explains the whole thing (why it was running), but in order to not take up too much real estate here, I'm going to post it as a comment to this post.
Oh, and another thing -- I swear, in the shot of the two girls who sing "don't want my dinner from a big machine", the one on the right is Ione Skye. Eric doesn't believe me, but it has to be. The St. Paul Pioneer press reporter addresses rumors that the girl was, in fact, Parker Posey. She, like, totally missed the mark.
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Yes, you've seen this ad before
Bringing back decade of big hair, stiletto heels works for Subway
BY AMY CARLSON GUSTAFSON
St. Paul Pioneer Press
While Subway is known for the slogan "Eat Fresh," one of the fast-food chain's TV commercials is a bit stale.
You've probably seen it: A guy with a Mohawk tries to tempt a woman sporting ratted hair and tons of makeup with a burger. "I don't want no burger," she sings as clowns fall down in the background. "I don't want no greasy chicken," she announces a few seconds later after giving a stiletto-heeled kick to a KFC-inspired bucket. Then, a couple of teenage girls share a shot with a nasty looking conveyor belt full of burgers.
When the 29-second spot began airing in April, folks took notice. Bloggers began to inquire about the dated commercial. One woman went so far as to post a letter she wrote to Subway in which she offered to buy more subs if they would pull the "garish" commercial. Rumors even started that one of the teen girls in the ad was a young Parker Posey.
"It works," says Eric Loeffler, vice president of marketing communications and creative services at Nemer Fieger, the locally based ad agency that worked with regional Subway franchises to revive the commercial.
Loeffler claims Subway sales have increased, but that's as much sales information as he'll share. He also says that the spot is airing in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and that the commercial originally aired nationwide in 1985 and later again in the early '90s. Its ending, when a Valley Girl-tinged voice announces a foot-long sub deal, is actually new but made to look and sound like the '80s.
John Rash, senior vice president, director of broadcast negotiations at Campbell Mithun Advertising in Minneapolis, says that most of the time when old commercials are brought back to life, it's because of a familiar jingle or phrase (think: Pop, pop, fizz, fizz). In the case of the Subway commercial, Rash says it's more about the era.
"What's most compelling about this spot coming back is that it's more evocative of an era than it is of a specific spot," says Rash. "It's a clever device to get increased viewing, particularly with the younger demographic who are harder to find in television."
Loeffler won't say how long the commercial will continue to run, but he's pretty happy with the buzz — both good and bad —it has generated.
"If people are talking about it, and it works — mission accomplished," he says.
As for those Parker Posey rumors?
"She is not in this commercial," her manager, Frank Frattaroli, wrote via e-mail Thursday.
Amy Carlson Gustafson can be reached at agustafson@pioneer press.com or 651-228-5561.
This was probably one of the smallest budget productions in which I was involved. Yet, it was secretly sort of fun to produce nonetheless. "Stranger Things" have happened (and did back in 2007...and in 1994...and in 1985). I sense that it might be high time for someone to revisit this old spot.
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