User:Jnestorius/Early Showers

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< Hey Kid, Catch!

  • Official name is "Early Showers"[1][2][3][4]
    • Alias "Mean Joe Greene"[1][5] or 'the "Mean Joe Greene" commercial'[3] or "the Mean Joe Greene Coca-Cola commercial".[6]
    • Alias "Hey Kid"[2] or "Hey Kid, Catch"[7]
  • The CLIO Awards in 1979 (and hence probably also in 1980) had a huge number of awards: "256 winners, 100 in the international division and 156 in the national one"; "60 subdivisions in the U.S. television category". So what categor(y/ies) did "Early Showers" win?[8]
  • The ad's art director, Roger Mosconi, wrote two books named Sex Sells :
    • one published in 2007 and described as a novel, starts with the story of "Early Showers": ad exec mad that creative used Greene when originally promised Roger Staubach;[9] ad exec mad at using Black player and had contract with Dallas Cowboys;[10] but Coca Cola like it;[11] ad execs tampered with initial test audience scores: needed 22 to pass, reported as 9,[12] actually 44;[13] rival's ad tanked so in desperation showed "Early Showers", which "thirty-two hundred bottlers and their wives brought the roof down".[14]
    • another published 2011 subtitled The True Tales Behind the Greatest Ads of the '80s.[15]
  • McCann-Erickson,[2]
  • "limping toward the locker room after an injury",[2]
  • "We wanted a boy and an intimidating man",[2][16]
  • "half-day shoot over three days",[2][16]
  • "chug about 2.25 gallons of Coke",[2][16]
  • "transformed him from brute to teddy bear"[2][16]
  • homage “The Simpsons,”[2]
  • homage “Sesame Street,”[2]
  • homage “Newhart”[2]
  • homage “Family Guy”[2]
  • In 2009, Coke Zero adapted it with Troy Polamalu.[16][17]
  • And in 2015, Coca-Cola brought the ad back to TV for a Nascar broadcast.[2]
  • won both a Clio and a Cannes Lion[16]
  • Other suggestions Tony Dorsett, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach.
  • Copywriter Penny Hawkey "Wait, there’s somebody actually named ‘Mean’ Joe Greene? Can we get him?"[16]
  • At the 1980 NFL Pro Bowl Greene got more fan notice than bigger stars[16]
  • premiered during the 1979 Major League Baseball playoffs[16]
  • In response to Pepsi Challenge, Coke hired Mean Joe Greene to take a sledgehammer to Pepsi vending machines at Coke corporate events.[18]
  • Ad won Clio and Greene won Clio for best actor.[19]
  • Greene paid $35,000 by Coke and later gifted a case of champagne.[19] "has a $150,000 personal-services contract with Coca-Cola"[20]
  • Hawkey preferred Greene to Bradshaw as "great big threatening presence"[19]
  • Coke exec William Van Loan compared Greene to Othello; Stan Isaacs suggested he might better play Goliath.[20]
  • Steelers had been in many ads since 1975 Super Bowl win, the best known being for Samsonite because of their reputation for toughness.[20]
  • Isaacs says also an ad with "six Steelers crowded into a Ford Fairlane"[20] but that model was discontinued in 1970 in the U.S.
  • Only O. J. Simpson rivalled the Steelers in NFL advertising.[20]
  • Hawkey said "Let's have a kid and a bruiser."[20]
  • Greene in 1974 United Airlines ad for widebody plane "The idea was that the plane was so comfortable that a mean, tough guy like me almost liked it."[20]
  • Drank 18 16-oz bottles of on final day, wrapping after midnight[20]
  • "corny" approach distinctly American, did not play as well in international versions.[3] needed alteration to soccer "less universal than many thought".[3] Unlike "Hilltop", which was explicitly a global campaign and message.[3]
  • A John Fetterman ad parody from his 2016 Senate campaign resurfaced online during his 2022 campaign; some of opponent Mehmet Oz's campaign staff mocked the ad in a way that suggested they did not get the reference, causing Fetterman's campaign to retort that Pennsylvanians ought to remember a Pittsburgh icon.[21]
  • In 2016 reunited with costar at Apogee Stadium for CBS special on greatest Super Bowl ads.[22]
  • A few online sources mention Michel Platini, Harald Schumacher, and Dino Zoff in local versions but I am sceptical; perhaps they were in other Coke ads?
  • At 1980 Super Bowl Coke paid $700K to air the 60-second version in the first half and a 30-second version in the second half.[23]
  • The 1981 movie was aimed at children and broadcast at 7pm.[24] Henry Thomas played kid (Nick) as Okun had grown too much. The opening scene replicates the ad, but with unbranded cola as Coke did not pay for product placement.[24] The ensuing "flimsy plot" sees Nick trying to return the shirt to renew Greene's enthusiasm for football.[24] Of his performance, Greene said "to say I'm acting would be ludicrous".[25]
  • McCann-Erickson Audiovisual collection at David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library includes tapes with items named "Mean Joe Greene":
    • 176[26] "Mean Joe Greene" and "Mean Joe Montage"
    • 242[5] "Mean Joe Greene" name for USA and Spain, plus others with qualification Zico, Maradona, Nywat for Brazil, Argentina, Thailand
    • 260[27] same but "dub" instead of "/Zico (Brazil)"
  • One of four campaigns awarded gold in the 60-second TV ad category in the 1980 Art Directors Club of New York Annual.[4]

Sources[edit]

  • Mosconi, Roger (May 2007). Sex Sells. Jersey Street Graphics. ISBN 978-0-9817240-0-3.
  • O'Barr, William M.; Moreira, Marcio M. (Fall 1989). "The Airbrushing of Culture: An Insider Looks At Global Advertising". Public Culture. 2 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1215/08992363-2-1-1.
    • republished as Moreira, Marcio; O'Barr, William M (2000). "The Airbrushing of Culture: An Insider Looks At Global Advertising". Advertising & Society Review. 1 (1). doi:10.1353/asr.2000.0024. Project MUSE 2957.
  • Rubenstein Library (October 2009). "McCann-Erickson Audiovisual collection, 1980s-1990s and undated : Original Videotapes, 1980s-1990s". Catalogue. Duke University Libraries.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Coca-Cola: Early Showers {Mean Joe Greene} (TV Commercial)". Paley Center for Media. AT81:1215.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Coca-Cola - Early Showers (Hey Kid)". Ad Age. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Crawford, Robert; Brennan, Linda; Khamis, Susie (7 December 2020). Decoding Coca-Cola: A Biography of a Global Brand. Routledge. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-1-351-02401-3.
  4. ^ a b 59th Art Directors Annual. New York: Art Directors Club of New York. 1980. ISBN 978-0-937414-00-2.
  5. ^ a b Rubenstein Library 2009 242. Coca-Cola International Pattern & Blueprint Advertising. 1986.
  6. ^ Dougherty, Philip (6 April 1981). "Advertising; Mosconi Moving To Dickison Shop". The New York Times. p. D8. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  7. ^ "The Paley Museum Announces the Opening of Its Latest Blockbuster Exhibit: Beyond the Big Game" (Press release). Paley Center for Media. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  8. ^ Allis, Samuel (14 June 1979). "CLIO for All Occasions". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  9. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 22
  10. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 34
  11. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 36
  12. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 49
  13. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 57
  14. ^ Mosconi 2007 p. 58
  15. ^ Mosconi, Roger (2011). Sex Sells: The True Tales Behind the Greatest Ads of the '80s. Smashwords. ISBN 9780981724041. OCLC 0981724043.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Moye, Jay (11 November 2013). "Commercial Appeal: 'Mean' Joe Greene Reflects on Iconic Coca-Cola Ad That Changed His Life". Coca Cola. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013.
  17. ^ "Coke Zero - Mean Troy". Ad Age. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  18. ^ Pendergrast, Mark (14 May 2013). "Roberto Goizueta's Bottom Line ; Getting Aggressive with Bottlers". For God, Country, and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04699-7.
  19. ^ a b c Pomerantz, Gary M. (2013). Their life's work : the brotherhood of the 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers, then and now. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 234–236. ISBN 978-1-4516-9162-7.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h Isaacs, Stan (17 December 1979). "Mean Joe: Goliath Plays Othello". Sports Illustrated. 51 (25): 61.
  21. ^ Gabriel, Trip (5 November 2022). "Not everyone gets Fetterman's reference to a Steelers legend in a resurfaced ad". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  22. ^ McAfee, Tierney (18 January 2017). "Mean Joe Greene Reunites with Kid from 'Hey Kid, Catch' Coca-Cola Super Bowl Ad". People. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  23. ^ Greene, Bob (January 30, 1980). "Super Bowl Anticipated". Blytheville Courier. Blytheville, Arkansas. p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2024 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  24. ^ a b c "'Steeler, Pittsburgh Kid' Sunday". Nashua Telegraph. AP. November 14, 1981. p. TV 3. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  25. ^ O'Brien, Pepper (November 14, 1981). "Mean Joe and Nick score TV touchdowns". Nashua Telegraph. AP. p. TV 3. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  26. ^ Rubenstein Library 2009 176. Game of the Name, Barry Day.
  27. ^ Rubenstein Library 2009 260. Coca-Cola: Mean Joe (multilingual), Truck Joe (multilingual). 1987.
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