Damn you, hot hunks of advertising! Damn you to hot, hunky hell! Your Grecian glutes mock me as I polish off another nacho platter, and your six-pack abs shame me as I knock back my six-pack of beer! Shirtless Josh Button is the latest addition to the ad-hunk trend, rising seductively from the sea in Deutsch L.A.'s new tongue-in-cheek commercial for Diet Dr Pepper. (They make diet soda now?) "Millions of guys are born good looking," Button's voiceover begins, as the number 70,611,600 flashes on screen. "But not many are really good looking." The number 64,891 appears. "Even fewer are really, really, really, really, really good looking. At least, that's what I'm told." The number 45 zips by. "I'm Josh Button, and I'm one of a kind." We then get a full-on view of his chiseled torso as the red number 1 appears, thrust like a dagger into my cholesterol-clogged heart. (Hey, I'm at least one of the 70 million fairly OK-looking dudes, right?!) "We're poking fun at ourselves and the trend of hot guys in advertising," Dr Pepper svp of marketing Jaxie Alt tells USA Today, alluding to hunk sightings in spots for brands like Kraft Zesty Italian dressing and Diet Coke. After decades of impossibly trim bikini babes making women feel insecure, I guess it's men's turn to suffer. At least one advertiser out there is providing a more realistic depiction of the male form. But when you consider the state of that beach bum's liver, and his life expectancy, it's cold comfort indeed. Credits below.
CREDITS
Client: Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Brand: Diet Dr Pepper
Agency: Deutsch, Los Angeles
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter
Group Creative Director: Brett Craig
Creative Director: Xavier Teo
ACD, Art Director: Erick Mangali
ACD, Copywriter: Chris DiNinno, Lehr E. Ryan
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Executive Producer: Lisa K. Johnson
Director of Content Production: Victoria Guenier
Ken Rongey: Senior Business Affairs Manager
Directors: Craig Brett/Mangali Erick
Director of Photography: Greig Fraser
1st A.D.: Anthony Dimino
Editorial Company:
Spot Welders, Santa Monica, CA
Editor: Patrick Murphree
Executive Producer: David Glean
Senior Producer: Carolina Wallace
Producer: J. Patrick McElroy
Post Facility - Color Only:
Company 3, Santa Monica, CA
Colorist: Dave Hussey
Visual Effects:
Arsenal FX, Santa Monica, CA
Post Production Company: Arsenal F/X
Executive Producer: Ashley Hydrick
VFX Supervisor/Design: Lauren Mayer-Beug
Flame: Mark Leiss and Terry Silberman
Designers/Animators: Andrew Schreiber
Post Producer: Pravina Sippy
Production Coordinators:
Music/Composer:
Elias Arts, Santa Monica, CA
Creative Director-Dave Gold
Executive Producer-Ann Haugen
Composer-David Wittman
Producer-Kiki Martinez
Audio Post Company/City/State:
Play Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Mixer:John Bolen
Executive Producer: Lauren Cascio
Others:
Mnemonic and End Tag
Wood Shop, Culver City, CA
CD/Product Director: Trevor Shephard
DP: Tom Lazarevich
Live Action Producer: Christy Lindgren
Post Producer: Sabrina Elizondo
Nuke Compositors: John Weckworth, Forbes Hill, Jon Lorenz, Ned Wilson, Thomas Horne
3D Artist: Forbes Hill, Cody Smith CD
Client Credits
Director of Creative: Shaun Nichols
Brand Manager – Diet Dr Pepper: Angela Snellings
Director of Marketing: Leslie Vesper
SVP, Director of Brand Marketing and Sponsorships: Jaxie Alt
SVP, Marketing: Andrew Springate
EVP, Marketing: Jim Trebilcock
Advertising Manager: Sharon Leath
Additional Deutsch Credits:
Mike Sheldon, CEO
Account Management Credits:
David Dreyer, Group Account Director
Helen Murray, VP Account Director
Andrew DuBois, Account Supervisor
Kate DeMallie, Assistant Account Executive
Account Planners:
Jeffrey Blish, Chief Strategic Officer
Aileen Russell, Group Planning Director
Business Affairs
Abilino Guillermo: Director of Integrated Business Affairs