This is a strange one.
MPC Creative teamed up with Jonah Hill and directors Stuart Bentley, Stuart Hammond and Lev Tanjufor for this intentionally bad spoof spot promoting London-based skateboarding brand Palace’s collaboration with Reebok. Full of very obvious green screening, dub fails and an entirely unenthusiastic delivery from Hill, it’s actually pretty funny.
“What’s up? I’m here in sunny London,” says Hill at the beginning of the spot, unconvincingly green screened in front of a Palace store. He talks up the store’s atmosphere and has a few awkward interactions with fellow skaters before getting to the main point: “these dope new sneakers that they made in collaboration with some sportswear company called…Reeboke.” The first part of Hill’s description is bleeped out after the word “These,” but then returns for the line “while having the most amazing sex with a rare white tiger on your birthday, and it’s also his birthday as well.”
Intentional lack of enthusiasm aside, Hill actually “grew up skateboarding in L.A.” and is a big fan of the sport (and presumably the brand as well) which lends some authenticity to the intentionally inauthentic performance. Whether or not viewers are clued in to that, though, the spot’s humor is undeniable.
It would be a hard approach to pull off without the right performance and Hill’s spot-on deadpan makes the ad. If advertising doesn’t work anymore, this kind of clever un-advertising (or whatever you want to call the sarcastic approach) may be something we see a lot more of soon.