December 29, 2004
Coke pays homage to MulitHumor
Coca-Cola recently released a great Bollywood-inspired ad in Spain, Portugal and Italy (thanks, GG). The ‘Del Pita’ ad retraces The Party, The Guru and Russell Peters’ wisecrack that the only thing a desi accent is good for is cutting tension.
In the ad, a desi waiter livens up a dreary party by bursting into a Bollywood song. Here’s the really cool part: it pays homage to Absolut Vodka’s unforgettable Mulit parody — pink shirt, shiny belt buckle and all. Watch the clip.
Update: Boing Boing reader JJ Merelo says,
… it was released last summer and become an instant sensation: the theme has been even featured in the new year’s eve TV shows, replayed over and over as a ringtone, and so forth. The party does not really look like a Spanish party, it rather looks like a british party. Believe me, I’ve been in Spanish parties. And a bit of trivia: it’s actually a girl who sings it, it’s a kind of ‘bollywood asereje’, since it’s not really in hindi (or telugu, for that matter), but in mock-indian language, and it was originally done in Argentina. There’s also a pointer to the spanish Coca Cola site: Link, and a story by a popular hispano-argentinian blogger: Link.
Asereje is that catchy track by Las Ketchup written in nonsensical language. Here’s a machine translation of the Argentinian blogger’s post.
Spaniards are somewhat familiar with Bollywood, as the films are widely available at mainstream DVD stores in Madrid.
manish on December 29, 2004 12:55 PM in Humor · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Ok, that was the most retarded commercial I've ever seen, "homage" to other commericals or not. Big picture, people, please! He's singing in a *MADE-UP LANGUAGE* for bleep's sake. Couldn't they find one hindi speaker, or...well...anything Desi, for that matter? I mean, seriously. Would they make an African waiter break into gibberish to make him sound "African," or worse...ghetto?
no wonder I couldn't understand it ;)
oh and btw - his Spanish was atrocious too.
Hi I am the British actor of the The Guru Coca-Cola commercial. The commercial was very successful in Spain. you can find out more about me on my website www.joeyjeetun.com
I am glad you have taken an interest in the ad.
Joey Jeetun
Dear Joey,
I saw the ad last summer while I was visting my friends in Spain and we loved it!! Keep up the great work! :)
g
Thanks G for your comments.
I have just found out that the ad won an award in Spain beating Nicole Kidman's Channel ad. It has also won a bronze award at the New York Film Festival.
Joey
Love is two people sipping Coca Cola from the same straw on a warm sunny day.