I saw the first Bruce Campbell spot for Old Spice, but it didn’t prepare me for perhaps the best new commercial of the year, perhaps the decade.
I have absolutely no interest in buying Old Spice, but I want to build a shrine to the ad exec who came up with this idea (along with, in the first one, the really long painting.)
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I love the Bruce, always have.
I did a film last year where i practically begged the Producers to get Bruce Campbell to play the lead. They told me i was being ridiculous, and that Bruce Campbell wasn’t the ideal choice for the plans they had for the film.
Basically, i got laughed at for suggesting Bruce Campbell.
Of course, the film ended up a total mess, so their laughter is almost like a badge of honor to me.
I like BC and these commercials are fine but the Duran riff comes across like a Mike Flowers rip. Without Bruce they wouldn’t work at all. This is his own pseudo cad persona being utilised to sell product. The character is fun but that’s due to BC and nothing to do with some lazy ad exec.
The greatest unsung actor this world has ever known.
I concur with Geoff wholeheartedly. I gotta get that Brisco County Jr. DVD set…
Yeah, it’s pretty good.
It’s great and all, but does anyone outside of the Sam Raimi filmgoing world know who Bruce Campbell is. I can’t imagine many of Spider-Man 3‘s audience actually finding the extra humour in that restaurant scene.
Holy shit.. didn’t even realize that was Campbell as I watched it with jaw agape… absolutely great commercial. I actually might switch to Old Spice after watching it just to show solidarity with the ad exec who came up with it.
This is more like an Axe Body Spray ad. No man is going to switch to Old Spice because of this, regardless of Bruce. This is designed for thirteen year olds and Harry Knowles.
Is anyone else perplexed by the marketing these days that is more about ironically clever thirty-second spots than actually selling the product?
Uh, it was okay … the first campbell-spice one was better.
I think this campaign is supposed to be an attention getter, not a hard sell. When was the last time you even thought about Old Spice.
More to the point, apparently Axe is a HUGE success.
For the last time Dave…the word is ASssk…not axe….
Anyone? Anyone?
I don’t know the sales figures, but in terms of image, every woman I know laughs at Axe users and thinks of them as hapless middle schoolers desperate for sex.
Slate discussed a more low-key Old Spice campaign a couple of years ago and compared it to the Axe stuff: http://www.slate.com/id/2107194/
Relevant quote: “When you promise spontaneous monkeysex, you run into a couple of problems. 1) You won’t deliver on that promise. This leaves the customer disappointed and sours him on the brand. 2) Your image gets linked with the guy who is desperate to get laid and who needs some sort of magic potion to help him. Which is not a great image.”
Yeah, but you can still sell a lot of product to dumb guys by linking it with sex. I’m sure the Axe people and the ad company are very happy.
It probably won’t result in a long-lasting brand, but that’s somebody else’s problem down the road.
Yep, it works for Axe. Just surprised Old Spice wants to follow suit.
I wonder how much real overlap there is between body spray users and fans of Bruce Campbell.
Considering hardcore fans of Bruce Campbell are big, nerdy geeks much like Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons, I hope they make the switch to body spray. or, deodorant of any kind…
Remember when Johnny Carson did the “Old Splice” ad? Great memories…oh crap, I think I just hinted that I’m no longer a member of the core demographic for Axe.
Bruce is being wasted by Hollywood–criminally wasted. Some of the passages in IF CHINS COULD KILL are, uh, jaw-dropping. (sorry) In a town where Cruise can walk away with $60 mil for MI3 and Bruce ends up making $25k a year while working on EVIL DEAD 2 (it took 3 years to make), you know that Nietzsche was right about God after all.
I don’t think the masses “get” Campbell’s schtick. Or, maybe he likes doing cameos and culty starring roles to appease his fans. I just don’t ever see him being a big movie star type. How can he be? He already has the cocky schmuck routine down to a tee…if he got huge it would be like self-parody or something!
Camel: And your point is… ??? Yes, the man is known in few circles. The circles he is known in adore him. He has made a career out of it. Uhhhhhhhh. Yeah?
Are we supposed to only care if it comes with a $258 million budget behind it?
My wife thinks Bruce would be a perfect Stainless Steel Rat.
I agree.
Tofu, you missed my point entirely. My point was that Campbell isn’t exactly a star so unless, strangely, they’re aiming this ad at Bruce Campbell fans exclusively, I can’t imagine it having the same effect of 90% of the population that it does on the 10% who know of him and how cool he is.
Does anyone even OWN the movie rights to Stainless Steel Rat? It seems like a natural nowadays, and Bruce would indeed be perfect.