Advertising that makes fun of advertising is all the rage these days—and now thespian Malcolm McDowell has joined talents like Ewen McGregor, Ricky Gervais and Anna Kendrick in essentially mocking the whole process, and their participation in it.
The veteran actor stars in two new spots for Lunchables, created by agency Mcgarrybowen and directed by Wayne McClammy (recently featured as one of Adweek's 10 Creative 100 directors). In both videos, McDowell is dressed like Steve Buscemi from his "how do you do, fellow kids" 30 Rock cameo, attempting to relate to today's hip young people as he teaches them how to prepare Lunchables Walking Tacos.
Given his career has taken him from A Clockwork Orange to Entourage and Metalocalypse, his latest role—launched with more commercials from mcgarrybowen and McClammy this spring—might be a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. Maybe he had gambling debts no one knew about?
Then again, the ill fit is also the point. While no one as photogenic as the people in these ads—least of all McDowell—will ever actually eat a Lunchables Walking Taco, the videos are great. It's clear that McClammy and McDowell are having tremendous fun with the material, which is all you need to make the basic concept work.
And really, is it fair to say that McDowell is slumming it here? He was in a Slipknot video, after all. That not to mention he broke the advertising seal in 2013, starring alongside James Earl Jones in dramatic readings for Sprint—McDowell's first commercials ever.
CREDITS
Client: Kraft Foods
Advertising Agency: mcgarrybowen
Chief Creative Officer: Ned Crowley
Group Creative Directors: Todd Brusnighan, Doug Behm
Director of Content Production: Steve Ross
Agency Producer: Mike Dahl
Account Managing Director: Kate Burke
Account Director: Ellen Cohen
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Editing Company: Cutters
Editor: Grant Gustafson
Visual Effects Company: Flavor
Final Color: Nice Shoes
Colorist: Ron Sudul
Final Mix Company: Another Country
Mixer: David Gerbosi
