Coke's PSA Pranks Theatergoers With Some Fast Editing

Ok, sure it's advertising but it's creative, entertaining advertising by global ad agency Saarchi & Saatchi and executive creative director Jason Mendes. Imagine going to your favorite local theater, plopping your butt down with your popped corn in one hand and coke in the other. And just as you settle in look up to find that you have become an advertising superstar. Well that is pretty much how it went down for some lucky Palads Cinema theatergoers in Copenhagen.

“A hidden camera, a green screen and a very fast retoucher. And with a touch of a little moviemaking magic - An unforgettable night for everyone who slurped a Coca-Cola in the cinema.”

Here is the campaign's companion video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUaMznJA5oA

via [FeelDistain]

Kenn Tam's picture

Been holding this damn camera in my hand since 1991.
Toronto / New York City

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11 Comments

Wow that was really well done. I'm quite surprised people took it very lightly.

Another awesome commercial by a great company. They are one of the few companies out there that really know what they're doing

nice one :)

Haha i love how people believe anything. OBVIOUSLY not real people just going to a cinema. Theres no chance they would get people standing alone drinking cola in front of that small green screen. If u watch the clip they even got people looking in to the camera smiling even though it was hidden. Lots of companies are doing this now, i just wish some did it for real. Knowing its fake just takes away the fun part of it.

Most people know what a green screen is and therefore they might guess where the camera is and look in the direction where the camera is or should be.

Maybe they even have something near the camera to make them look over there even if it wasn't shown in the clip.

I'm not claiming it isn't fake, but what I mentioned could be one explanation to some of what you noticed.

My guess: they also got tons of people not drinking. But no one cares about them...
And trust me, it's so easy to get 'normal' people in front of a green screen without any reason :)

I have to second thunder.

The People are standing clear and nice in front of the camera, they are looking IN the camera but most surprising for me as a photographer is the fact that they are PERFECTLY lit like in a studio. They have effect lights on the sides that you clearly do not have in the theater lounge.
Its a pity that now with the famous "First Kiss" video, the Ad Agencies start to fool us with staged "real life videos".
For me personally, this is something unacceptable, since they are directly lying at us by saying that it was not staged.

agreed, I rewatched the video and saw exactly what you mean.

I somewhat agree, too, but that "perfect" lighting doesn't look consistent on every person.

Yeah, and how can you pull this off without a model release?

Think Candid Camera with these. There's probably someone there prompting them somehow without blatantly directing. They were probably asked "Hey you wanna be in a Coke ad?", where the surprise would come in was they didn't know they'd see the ad in the theater minutes later! Just a theory, they never said it wasn't staged, they just said it was a surprise!