The next time you're perusing the shelves at your local beer shop and you hear a voice coming from the cooler, there's a chance it's a sixer of Shock Top Belgian White trying to chat you up.
Not since Red Stripe's bodega bonanza have we seen something this odd happening to unsuspecting potential party people. Liquor store shoppers and bar-goers alike find themselves face-to-citrus-face with Shock Top's chatty mascot in a series of videos.
The mascot, named Wedgehead, is like the PG-13 lovechild of Andrew Dice Clay and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog—a kind of Joe Pesci Lite, but quite a bit smoother with the ladies. He actually gets some good zingers in, like when he tells one curiously investigative customer, "Take it easy, CSI."
He also takes a few digs at the competition. "You guys know these beers, they're trying too hard, you know what I mean? Fifteen names? Wildebeest Three-Headed Unicorn? What is that? Seventeen varieties served in a fedora. Come on. I'll do mine in a glass."
Check out the clips below to see how it all went down. There's also an outdoor ad that continues the talking motif.
We've reached out to several agencies linked to Shock Top, but so far none has taken credit for the videos, so we'll update when we hear back on credits. UPDATE: The work is by Anomaly in Toronto.
The real question, of course, is whether the stunts are real or staged. Without a behind-the-scenes video or official word from the marketer, we're left to watch and decide for ourselves. If Wedgehead were here, I'm sure I know what he'd say.