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Back in the day, big celebrities could film advertisements that would be aired only in other countries and no one in the U.S. would know about it. It was a great way to make some extra cash quickly, and they wouldn’t be seen as less serious actors for promoting a non-luxury brand or appearing in a dumb ad. But thanks to the internet, that kind of secrecy is long gone. It’s easy to find overseas print ads and commercials with a simple Google search. Brad Pitt might have forgotten this when he recently filmed a spot for Softbank Mobile to be aired in Japan.
While big time movie stars rarely appear in TV ads in the US, anyone who’s seen Lost In Translation knows stars can score a big pay day by doing commercials abroad.
That’s just what Brad Pitt is doing here, playing a bumbling tourist in this spot for a Japanese mobile phone company.
He pushes a broken down car, is nearly run-over by a group of bicyclists and uses his camera phone to take a picture of… well just watch the video and see.
This adorable spot is apparently a take off of the 1950s French film, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot and was directed by Wes Anderson.
Brad has done several commercials for the Japanese company, and the company spokesperson Naoki Nakayama tells Us magazine: “It is a pleasure to have him as part of the Softbank company, and we look forward to premiering the new commercial, along with our new season of phones, this winter.”
[From X17]
Lots of websites are praising the commercial as adorable. I guess it’s reasonably cute but somehow I find it a little too cheesy. Obviously I’m not the audience it’s intended for, so it doesn’t really matter. Brad is obviously in good company though. Cracked has a funny article titled, “The 5 Most Ridiculous Celebrity Cameos in Japanese Ads.” Michael J. Fox is shown pushing some kind of tea/soft drink hybrid while wielding giant pruning shears and turning a large round shrub into a bear. He then is chased by an obese housekeeper. So everything considered, I guess Brad’s add is pretty dignified after all.
Header photo of Brad and Angelina in London on November 18th. Images thanks to WENN.
Written by JayBird
Posted in Advertising, Brad Pitt
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15 Responses to “Brad Pitt’s Japanese cell phone commercial”
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LOL he looks like Big Bird. It’s a silly commercial, but he looks like he had a lot of fun making it.
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Why does he still do this cheesy stuff, it is not like he needs the money. I guess you can never be too greedy when it comes to money then, eh Brad.
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Brad is personifying Jacques Tati’s famous Monsieur Hulot, a French comedy character. Monsieur Hulot is a national treasure for France; it’d be an honour for Brad to play this part.
Msr Hulot has a distinctive ‘lurching’ walk, and generally ‘lives’ in the world of technology & gadgets without the faintest idea of their relevance.
It looks to me like Brad brings his expert acting skills to play in this part!! AND, who knows, we may yet get to see Brad in a full-length feature as the ‘new’ Msr Hulot !!
As to earning an income from commercials – I get the impression that one of the important criteria for Brad choosing work is for it to enable him to be near /with his family as much as possible. I guess he has a high-income to earn what with all the body guards he has to employ to ensure safety for himself and his family.
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Man, the Japanese are loonie over Brad. Cute.
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Do you think that these stars do this for the money. Do they really need the money that badly? I just don’t understand. I think that this makes Brad and others who do these commericals desperate and this add is really cheesy. I know that the Japenese are crazy over David Beckham. Does he ever do cheesy stuff like this?
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My Point Susan, even Clooney admitting there is something cheesy about doing ads but he needed the money at the time. This pathetic loser pimps out his kids for millions. Let him adopt another child and sell the pictures. It is after all their favourite pass time.
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maybe he just wanted to work with wes anderson. who cares if he doesn’t need the money? it looks fun as hell.
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some big-name celebrity is going to be paid money they don’t need. might as well be brad. movie stars are extremely overpaid anyway, if you ask me.
jacqueline- thanks for the info about msr hulot! if that’s the point of the commercial, brad probably would have done it for that alone.
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In South Korea (I’m Korean), all the big celebrities do commercials and advertisements. It’s not demeaning to their craft in the least, in fact, only popular actors get such endorsements. The commercials are always cute and fun, and I wouldn’t see why anyone would pass up an opportunity to make easy money in a short period, especially when it seems to be so enjoyable.
It’s much different in America, where actors are labeled desperate sell-outs for making these endorsements. Such a cultural difference.
Brad’s just doing what will make him popular according to a specific audience, which means only serious acting in the US and whoring himself out in Asia.
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i agree iris, it is weird. when i was in south korea i was struck by how many endorsements and advertisements the popular stars did for products on TV and in public. the families i was staying with explained to me every person in those ads was usually a famous star. not like the way it is here at all.
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Japanese & Korean advertising is far different from what is normally seen in the US. The ads are usually comedic or incredibly light hearted. The westerners who are featured are almost always really famous.
Anyways, I think the ad is funny.
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I loved Heather Locklear’s Loreal ads… And Krammer selling Vodafone…
Brad in this one left me cold, probably as he was more Mr Bean, than Mr Pitt, lol.
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Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz are HUGE Softbank ad faces. We use Softbank phones, and every month when we go in to pay the bill (we can’t read Kanji, so we take the statement to the office to pay), they have a new poster of Cameron in there. Brad is on all the billboards.
Tommy Lee Jones is the faceman for BOSS coffee drinks out here. His face is blown up to jumbotron size on all of their vending machines (vending machines are HUGE in Okinawa).
The number of American stars that are huge out here, though, is actually relatively tame. Most of what we see is the Japanese celebrities and models.
This commercial is really typical of Japanese television spots. Whether selling toilet paper or cars or something in-between, the ads are usually melodramatic or “goofy-funny.”
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B0llocks to Brad Pitt – I want to hear more about Wes Andersen’s involvement. Is this just a once-off or is he doing a series of them.
He’s the master of intricate dialogue and beautifully-styled set pieces and so it’s great to see him getting his quirky humour across with no words – just his excellent taste in music.
I have to say, if you say that a well-known actor doing endorsements is desperate, selling out or any other version of greedy some of you are going to throw out there – that means that a well-known and respected director must be equally desperate.
And if you’re accusing Wes Andersen of being pathetic then I’m going to get extremely cross.
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Advertisements are ver different in Asia. Thanx Iris.. Besides making money and having some fun, Brad also keeps his face out there & will capture Asian audiences for future movies. Very different perception there. Besides, who wouldn’t want to make extra money.
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