Coffee Ad Honors Haruo Nakajima

Above, Haruo Nakajima at G-FEST in 2008. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This is a Japanese advertisement for Boss Coffee, a major coffee brand (part of Suntory) in Japan. This ad is three years old, but it is only now that I've seen it (thanks to Stan Hyde).  

Although a coffee ad, it pays tribute to Haruo Nakajima and what he endured while playing the King of the Monsters.

Here's the ad:

"Godzilla" Bus Shelter: The Other Side

When I shot two pictures of the bus shelter in Burbank last night, I didn't walk around to see what poster was on the other side. This morning, on my way home, I passed it and saw that it was another and different Godzilla poster. I took a picture of it this evening and here it is along with one of my photos from the night before for comparison.

 Here they are:

"Godzilla" Now At A Bus Shelter Near You

by Armand Vaquer

As we get closer to May 16, which is opening day for Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. Godzilla, the advertising machine is either in high gear or getting very close to it.

I have seen television advertisements, billboards and, now, bus shelter ads.

Tonight, while on my way to work in Burbank, California (which is also home to Warner Bros. Studios), I spotted this bus bench shelter with a Godzilla poster and took a couple shots of it with my cell phone.

Here they are:

This brought to mind how disappointing the ad campaign, or lack thereof, of Godzilla 2000 back in the summer of 2000. There were no bus shelter or any other kinds of advertising that I saw at the time. Small wonder why the movie only earned $10 million at the box office.

And, in Chicago...

Above, Lenell Bridges poses with a Godzilla poster at a Chicago bus shelter. Photo courtesy of Lenell Bridges.

Godzilla Gets Grumpy When He Doesn't Get His Snickers! - Godzilla Takes It Out On A Taxi! - 8 x 10 Godzilla Photo From Famous Commercial

$6 - View Obscura

This is a 8 x 10 print of a still from the very popular Snickers candy bar commercial featuring Godzilla.

Note: Watermark Does NOT Appear on actual photo!

 Godzilla Gets Grumpy When He Doesn't Get His Snickers! - Orange Tint Variant - 8 x 10 Godzilla Photo From Famous Commercial - $5 View Obscura

 Godzilla Gets Grumpy When He Doesn't Get His Snickers! - Red Flame Breath Variant - 8 x 10 Godzilla Photo From Famous Commercial - $4 View Obscura

 Godzilla Gets Grumpy When He Doesn't Get His Snickers! - Heat Map Variant - 8 x 10 Godzilla Photo From Famous Commercial - $4 View Obscura

Godzilla Snickers Ad

The advertising of products featuring Godzilla have started. Snickers has Godzilla playing ping pong and water skiing in this ad:

 

William Shatner Battles the Gorn Once Again in Ad for Star Trek Video Game

From Adweek

Gorn … but not forgotten! To promote a Star Trek video game launching this month, William Shatner and a guy in a lumpy lizard suit winningly reprise Captain Kirk's hand-to-claw struggle with the alien Gorn commander from the classic Trek episode "Arena." The updated battle takes place in Shats' comfy living room, where he flips his wig over the gameplay tactics of his reptilian rival. The joke here is that 46 years after their initial encounter, the combatants are, as Shatner pants at one point, "both too old for this kind of thing." Indeed, time has taken its toll. In 1967, only the Gorn was wrinkled and leathery. Today, octogenarian Shatner fits the same description. Well, OK, Bill actually looks great, his schtick is ageless, and the clip scores by deftly employing elements of the original fight's campy choreography.

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Video After The Break

The Flintstones Say "Smoke Em If Ya Got Em Kids"

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Cartoon characters smoking? WTF!

It is hard to fathom that a cigarette company would use cartoon characters to sell it's product to children, but that is exactly what Winston Cigarettes did back in the early 1960's.

During the original run of The Flinstones the show was sponsored by several different companies, one of them Winston Cigarettes. To showcase the sponsor's products Hanna-Barbera (the animation company that produced The Flintstones) produced several add spots featuring their beloved characters using the products ..... even smoking cigarettes.

Today such a advertising campaign would be strictly taboo .... but back in 1961 nobody thought twice about it and the adds aired on prime-time television for the whole family, including youngsters, to see. It is pretty damn obvious that these adds, though made for adults (The Flintstones, though animated, was considered adult viewing), were really designed to get kids to take up smoking.

Screw you Joe Camel .... we got Fred and Barney!

I actually think that there was an add with The Great Gazoo reading a Playboy and drinking Coors beer ..... but I may be mistaken.

All jokes aside these adds did air at the end of every episode of The Flintstones back in the day.

Here are an example of some of these commercials:



There are just soooo many things that are not PC about this one! "Hey Barney let's sit on our fat prehistoric butts while the women folk do all the hard work .....". Forget the fact that they are smoking for a minute and think about how much of an uproar there would be today for Betty and Wilma being portrayed as female servants to their male husbands alone.

You've come a long way baby!



This is the kinda stuff that you will never see on Boomerang!





Okay, the last one is a Jelly add .... which would be okay .... except for the fact that it promotes obesity in children. Which is now a big no-no! In fact Fred and Barney are a bit on the heavy side so maybe the whole show should be banned?

Sounds crazy right?

You never know? Things are getting kinda weird around Washington.

Just saying ....

See Also: Travel Back In Time With Clips From Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Man Called Flintstone (1966)

Alessandra Torresani's Caprica Add, The Sexiest Ever?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: NBC / Universal

No one should ever doubt the power of advertising. The image, or images, the general public sees in relation to any given product, be it a movie, television series or box of cereal, can either make it a hit, or a dud.

How may times have you seen a trailer that got you really interested in a movie, then when you finally got to see it, it blew?

The movie may have sucked, and your were duped by a creative add, but they got your $8 didn't they.

Likewise, I have seen terrible trailers and adverts for great movies.

The only reason I am bringing this up is because of the latest advertising art that is popping up everywhere for the SyFy Channels new series "Caprica." The adds feature one of the shows main stars, Alessandra Torresani, in a very sexy pose, naked, with an apple in her hand.

Now before I had been exposed to this image on website banners and in magazines, I had seen trailers on TV for "Caprica", and to be honest, I had little to no interest in watching the show (and I am an old school 'Galactica' fan from way back).

Now, however, I have somehow developed a desire to watch it. Why? Because every time I lay eyes on the sexy image of Torresani.....I....well......It's a guy thing, okay.

Now, the folk's over at the SyFy Channel know what they are doing. Just take a look at how the advertisement changed from this image (directly above) to the one at the top of this article.

The early version was sexy in it's own right, but it is obvious that someone thought that it needed to be kicked up a notch....bam!

Whatever....it works.....oh howdy does it work.

So does sex sell? The short answer is 'yes'.

My male driven reaction to the add, which obviously was aimed straight at the primal urges of sci fi geeks (and I am one), is proof positive.

I didn't care about "Caprica" before, but now I do. Case closed.

Actually to be honest, the sexy photo of Alessandra Torresani actually just made me want to go on a quest to find more images of her......oh, and look up her bio.

Here is Alessandra Torresani 's official bio courtesy of NBC/Universal (because I know that you are as curious as I was):

Alessandra Torresani stars opposite Eric Stolz and Esai Morales as Zoe Graystone on Syfy's much-anticipated new drama "Caprica" (named one of Rolling Stone magazine's "50 Best Reasons to Watch TV").

Torresani, a multi-talented performer, has starred on such television series as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "ER," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Arrested Development," "Bones," "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," "Happy Campers" and the Joel Silver pilot "Newton", among many others.

By the time the Palo Alto, Calif. native was asked to host "WB Kid's Club" at the age of 9, Torresani was a veteran of numerous dance and athletic competitions, and had already been named a world dance champion in jazz and tap. She also achieved a black belt in tae-kwon-do.

Torresani's long string of roles on some of television's most-watched shows soon began, as well as her star turns in the feature films "Lost & Found" (opposite David Spade), "Going to the Mat" and "Baby Bedlam."

Now, I still may resist the urge to watch "Caprica", because after Torresani's image ebbs from my mind, I do still remember that the show didn't look all that great from the trailers.

Then again, it could be good huh? I mean that Torresani sure looks hot, right?

See Also: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan - Galactica Through The Eyes Of The Cylons / Bryan Singer Signs On To Direct Battlestar Galactica Movie / Battlestar Galactica And V Coming To The Big Screen Retro Style?! / Interview - Richard Hatch / SyFy Announces Air Date For Caprica / Tricia Helfer Talks Galactica And Burn Notice With The Media / USA Launches Second Online Game Based On Burn Notice / Galactica Prequel Caprica To Premiere On DVD / iPhone Users Can Now Download Their Own Cylon Detector / Galactica Brings Record Viewers And Web Traffic To Sci Fi / Galactica Actors Hand Pick Items For Charity Auction / Sci Fi Begins Producion On Galactica Prequel Caprica / Battlestar Galactica Props To Go On The Auction Block In Pasadena / The Galactica Begins Its Final Journey Battlestar Galactica Props Go On The Auction Block / Actress Profile - Grace Park / Galactica's Grace Park Set To Star In The Cleaner / Nothing Brightens Up A Home Like A Life-Size Cylon /Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)

Giant Monster Round-up - King Kong Escapes To Chicago And A Retro Monster Promotes Power Line Safety

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Avery Guerra / Marketing Mag (Canada)

I didn't think that either of these two bits would stand very well on their own, so I decided to combine them.

Avery Guerra just shot me an e-mail about a special screening of "King Kong Escapes" at the Portage Theater in Chicago this Saturday. The film will be part of a mini-festival being presented by Time Tunnel Toys that also includes "The Monolith Monsters", "War of the Colossal Beast" and "Van Helsing: The London Assignment."

If memory serves....I think that last one is actually a cartoon.

Anyway, "King Kong Escapes" will be shown at 4:00, but there will be a vintage toy show, and sale, that starts at 2. Admission will be $10 for adults and $5 for the kiddos.

That price is for all the films, not each, in case you were wondering.



I also wanted to mention a cool giant monster related advertisement from Canada that I discovered.

The commercial features a "Godzilla-like" retro monster, that gets too close to the power lines and meets his maker. As you guessed, it's about power line safety.

The bit was produced for Alberta's Joint Utility Safety Team by Calgary's Wonder Communications.

It seems that you need to keep your heavy construction equipment at least 7 meters away from the power lines......eh!

See Also: The Top Ten Hottest Monsters Of 2009 / "Kong: King Of Skull Island" - New Artwork For The Graphic Novel / Kong: King Of Skull Island - The Mighty Ape Sequel / 3D Animation Bonanza - King Kong And Killer Beans / Steve Bissette Creates Special Artwork For New Hampshire Screening Of King Kong vs Godzilla / King Kong And Godzilla Invade The London Subway / King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)(Toho) / Nerdoh Is Producing Movie Inspired T-Shirts In The UK / King Kong, Godzilla And The Creature From The Black Lagoon At The Rose Parade / King Kong vs Godzilla: Trailer / Universal Fire: King Kong & Godzilla Up In Smoke? / Kingukongu no gyakushu / King Kong Escapes (1967)

Do You Have A Smelly Fridge? Ultraman Has The Answer!

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Giant Monsters Attack

Only in Japan would an advertising agency opt to use a parody of two of the countries greatest pop-culture icons, "Ultraman" and "Godzilla", to sell a charcoal air freshener for refrigerators.

Such an add is currently running on Japanese TV.

The main characters in the commercial, human and otherwise, are obvious spoofs of characters from Tsuburaya's long running "Ultraman" TV series. The giant super heroes adversary in the spot is a fire-breathing monster, who loosely looks like "Godzilla" (remember Toho has been going law suite crazy as of late), with Japanese writing on it's torso that translates as “smelly”.

I don't know if using a giant monster themed add would make me want to buy a charcoal air freshener for my fridge or not, but it is good for a laugh or two.

See Also: Japan's Greatest Hero, "Ultraman", Coming Soon To An Electrical Box Near You! / It's 'Voltron', 'Ultraman' and 'The Power Rangers' Thrown In A Blender For 5432 Film's "Megabot" / It's An Ultra Galaxy Legend Trailer Double Feature / The Ancient Dogoo Girl - Can A Hot Girl With Big Boobs Replace Ultraman? / It's Spider-Man, Iron Man And The Hulk Vs The Decepticons in 'Transformers 3: The War of the Earth' / Is Ultraman Based On A Chinese Solar Diety? / Ultraman: The Next (2005)(Tsuburaya) / The First Trailer From Koichi Sakamoto‘s Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie / Mill Creek Entertainment To Release The Complete Ultraman Series On DVD / Hey Kids! It's Ultraman......Sorta / Behind The Scenes Photos From Norman England's It's All Good / Mothra X MechaGodzilla: Revenge Of The Black Hole Aliens / You Really Haven't Lived Until You Have Seen The Japanese Spider-Man TV Show / DEX Wins The Thai Rights To Ultraman Max And Ultraman Mebius / Pusan International Film Festival Focuses On Asian Super Heroes / Ultraman To Appear At This Years Japanese Film Festival In Kuala Lumpur / Ultraman Showcase 2008 - Ultraman Comes To Malaysia / Ultraman Cosmos vs. Ultraman Justice: The Final Battle (2003) / Hitomi Muto Talks About Her Grandfather Eiji Tsuburaya / Ultraman: Towards the Future (1990) / Ultraman Becomes A Permanent Resident Of The Fukushima Airport / Courts Rule That Sompote Saengduenchai Did Not Co-Create Ultraman

Water Drinkers Need To Fear RubberDuckZilla

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Marketing Magazine (UK) / Youtube

If constantly being rampaged by Godzilla, Gamera......um, Gappa, and all their kin wasn't bad enough, now Japan has yet another terror to contend with, a giant 20-story-tall rubber duck. Step aside monsters, RubberDuckZilla is the new king in town!

Okay......maybe not really, but the latest creation of the Coca-Cola company is the perfect mascot for their Oasis soft drink, which is sold in the UK.

Marketed as "the soft drink for people who don't like water" for a 20-something audience, the newest campaign for the soda, which is scheduled to begin airing May 18th, features "RubberDuckZilla" destroying anything water related in a very cleaver Godzilla parody.

Interestingly enough, the add also seems to parody an Asian adult film as well. The spot opens with one young female Japanese co-ed giving another, who is on all fours, a drink. Sorry, but all I could think of was Asian lesbians when I saw it. Anyway, their....um, interaction is interrupted by people, whom I can only assume are supposed to be dorm monitors, who demand that they drink water and not Oasis, despite the whole giant duck business.

Well, right on cue, RubberDuckZilla shows up and starts causing kaiju related mayhem.

The spot ends with the two co-eds on the monster duck's beak giving it a kiss.

An excellent parody!

This will not be the last we see of RubberDuckZilla. Additional content will be made available on http://www.rubberduckzilla.com/, created by Poke digital advertising agency. The website will host new RubberDuckZilla video games designed by the creator of the game Little Big Planet.

See Also: Looking For A Job? Guilala Can Help

Mothra Song Mosura No Uta Used As Inspiration For Soy Sauce Add

Source: ADi

ADi, a Portland-based computer animation company, has provided the unique animation for a commercial for GOLIGHTLY Films and Yamasa Soy Sauce using ideas and themes from the Japanese "Mothra" song, Mosura No Uta. The 30 second commercial, animated by ADi and written, produced, directed and filmed by GOLIGHTLY Films, will be broadcast locally on KGW TV, and in Japan on Fuji TV. The song, which gained popularity in the U.S. on YouTube, is based on a fictional monster who is both an ally and adversary of Godzilla. Yamasa USA is headquartered in Salem, Oregon.

ADi's designers brought to life a virtual world with a pop-up book appearance in a lily-pond setting. "We had a blast on this project," commented Kate Ertmann, President and Executive Producer at ADi. "We wanted to come up with a visual approach that would stand out and get noticed right away. We started by developing storyboards with the client and moving to the different elements of the animation. The initial concept from GOLIGHTLY Films and Yamasa was essentially playing off the Mothra Song theme, where Mothra's fairies invoke Mothra to come and help them. We also wanted to use bright, saturated colors and have a playful feel, consistent with Yamasa marketing. Exploring these concepts and creating the pop-up storybook world allowed us to give it 3D feel, but keep the costs lower than a fully realized 3D world." Visit www.Youtube.com to see more of the style of the Mothra song.

"We very much enjoyed working with ADi to develop this innovative and creative spot for Yamasa Soy Sauce," stated Director/DP Kenneth Luba of GOLIGHTLY Films. "Not only were they able to bring my vision to life and are extremely talented in animation design, but they also kept the commercial on track and on budget. Their experience in project development ensured the commercial was created in stages where any changes we needed were able to be done with as little financial impact as possible. Our client, Yamasa USA, was extremely pleased with the outcome."

The commercial was shot using a green screen, and the characters were then placed in a colorful virtual world. ADi's art director, Kalina Torino, drew and painted all the images and then the 3D technical staff applied the images to a virtual 3D set complete with rigging, clouds and a dragonfly hanging by strings. The various elements were animated and video layers added in sections on different plates. The three central singing characters were shot on one plate, the soy sauce bottles on another and the Yamasa man on yet another, all scaled and overlapped to appear as though they are in the same world. To view the commercial, see below:



Mothra Song
Japanese

Mosura ya Mosura
dongan kasakuyan indoo muu
rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan
randa banunradan tounjukanraa
kasaku yaanmu
Mosura ya Mosura
yasashisasae waure
arehatetahito no kokoro inorinagara
utai, ai no uta

English Translation

Mothra oh Mothra
Hear our call for you to save us
over time, over sea
like a wave you come
our guardian angel
Mothra oh Mothra
the people have forgotten kindness
their spirits fall to ruin
we shall pray for the people as we sing
this song of love

See Also: Godzilla & The Monsters Of Mass Destruction Trailer / Mothra and Bireley's / G-FEST XVI To Host Kenji Sahara / Slowmotion Apocalypse To Record Gamera Songs For Mothra Album / Godzilla To Add His Fire To Hot Atlanta / You Can Do Anything But Lay Off Of My Kaiju Shoes / The Top Ten Hottest Monsters Of 2008 / Godzilla Rodan Ultraman And Mothra Invade The Miami Beach Art Scene / New Video! - Mothra 3 Behind The Scenes! / Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out-Attack Trailer / Mothra (Mosura)(1961) / Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)