No One Was Hurt During The Making Of This Invasive Advertising

Would you stand up for a friend? No, seriously, if a friend called in the middle of the night and needed you to bail them out of a poker game gone wrong, would you rush over there with the ransom money to free your homey?

Carlsberg drinkers would.

Will Burns, CEO of Ideasicle loves the idea.

Carlsberg shattered the cliches while positioning itself as a brand for close (very close) friends. Here’s why I love this reality-prank idea: Carlsberg isn’t flatly claiming their beer is for those times when friends are together. They are demonstrating it.

David Gianatasio of Adweek notes:

The poker prank, while elaborate and invasive, actually seems a tad tame by the genre’s current standards. It’s nowhere near as shocking as last week’s faux elevator strangling for the movie thriller Dead Man Down, or as intricately upsetting as Nivea’s airport ambush in February, which strove to convince people that they were wanted by the law.

Duval Guillaume Modem/Antwerp is the responsible party, or irresponsible party depending on your POV.

Legendary copywriter and author Luke Sullivan, who now teaches advertising at SCAD in Savannah, weighed in on another new “shock and awe’ stunt from Pepsi MAX this morning:

I HATE THESE AD “PRANKS” THAT SCARE THE HELL OUT OF PEOPLE. SHAME ON THE BRANDS AND SHAME ON THE AGENCIES. What agency did this? I’d love to post a note on their site.

Here’s the footage he’s speaking of (btw, the Pepsi MAX looks to be from TBWA\Chiat\Day):

What are you thoughts on this invasive species?