8 years later - whassup?

Submitted by Dr. Prole on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 19:32.

Remember these guys?

Although you were likely happy that you finally scrubbed your brain of the whole "Whassup" thing, let's check in on the guys to see how they fared after 8 long years of Republican rule...

Bloody brilliant.

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Nicely done!

Submitted by Beijing York on Sun, 10/26/2008 - 11:31.

Bravo!

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I never did "get" ...

Submitted by willy be frantic on Sun, 10/26/2008 - 19:29.

... the 'Whassup' thing. I do now. Likely the first time I sat through the original Budweiser ad. The 8 years later vid is bloody brilliant. It looks like the original actors were in the parody. I didn't, and should have, guessed the vid was a plug for Obama. Well done.

I have no doubt that Anheuser-Busch didn't approve of the parody. If memory serve me correctly Cindy McCain's money comes from distributing Anheuser-Busch products.

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A little bit of history...

Submitted by Dr.Frink on Sun, 10/26/2008 - 19:54.

Yes, it's the same four guys. They are all actually real life friends. The ad originated as a short film... and I'll let BBC News tell you the story.

Charles Stone III, who created and directed the adverts, has signed a deal with Fox Television.

The actors and creator, all friends, became stars in the United States when the adverts were first screened.

Legions of Whassup? parodies have been created.

The commercial began life in 1998 as a two-minute film made by Stone, called True.

His three friends sit around using the word "true" and greeting each other with cries of "Whassup?"

The film was seen by a ad agency executive, who brought in Stone to create a commercial for the beer company.

Hundreds of actors were auditioned before Thomas, Brooks and Williams were hired to play themselves.

Although the original ads were filmed for Anheuser-Busch, the four have retained all rights to the characters who are actually themselves.

At 2:00 long, this one was not created by Stone & friends as a Bud ad. The disclaimer is in there because of the past close association of the characters and the catchphrase with Anheuser-Busch.

Everything's cheaper than it looks.

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Ahhh ...

Submitted by willy be frantic on Sun, 10/26/2008 - 20:31.

... clarification from the one with the freaky powers. Thanks ff.

I knew it wasn't an ad and understood the reason for the disclaimer. I just didn't 'get' where the vid was going until about the 1:30 mark.

Background is always welcome. I think if they called it background in school I would have been more interested in history.

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An update

Submitted by Dr.Frink on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 10:47.

I thought I should throw out there...

Business Week looks behind the making of the 'Wassup 2008' video.

First, who paid for this thing? The production values are very high – one person from Budweiser’s ad agency, DDB, estimated it could have cost as much as $750,000 (she also said DDB had nothing to do with the video). Second, how could Budweiser possibly be cool with such a clearly partisan advertisement?

So, if you've ever entertained the notion that advertising executives are completly out of touch with the real world look no further than that $750k budget estimate.

They shot over two days. The war-torn Iraq setting is actually a preexisting set in Santa Clarita, CA.

<snip...>

The final price tag? About $6500 out of his own pocket, Stone says.

As for the second question posed above? (something I referenced in my comment above)

Budweiser had no clue it was happening until after the video hit YouTube on Friday.

<snip...>

It was all possible, Stone says, because Budweiser never owned the rights to the idea.... Now Stone, a diehard Obama supporter, says it’s more than paid off. “That I’m able to use an idea distributed by a huge company, who made a lot of money off it, so that now when I put out what I want to say, it’s recognizable, and it sparks -- that’s worth $1 million to me.”

Bravo!!!

Everything's cheaper than it looks.