Johnnie Walker Advert - Tastefully done or downright disrespectful of the dead?

[Allen]

I have just seen this:

http://kotaku.com/bruce-lee-wants-yo...nnie-715795835

What are your thoughts on it? It seems the comments on that page are a mixed bag, some people say it's disgusting and disrespectful, others say it's very well done. Some like the idea but the CGI is pretty poor considering how long they spent on it.

What are your views?

Personally, I think it's in extremely bad taste, and I hope this doesn't pave the way for more reanimation of dead celebrities. It's bad enough having alive one's shoved down your throat 24x7!

[Allen]

Oh, I forgot to add, he was depicted as being teetotal but apparently lots of people are claiming he had a drinking problem which almost cost him his family. Does this make it worse that they are using him in an advert for alcohol?

[stevie lee]

first of all. whats all the philosophy of water speech got to do with whiskey?

yes I know whiskeys made with water, but it doesn't explain why be the water, be the best transfers into this is the best whiskey, which is what im assuming they were going for.

it would've been a helluva lot simpler if they wanted to do bruce lee quotes, to get a current celeb to say 'I learned from my idol/mentor bruce lee all this whatnot about water, and therefore I like whiskey'


unless what they were going for is all the internet to rage about them cashing in on bruce lee, therefore getting a bigger audience then they would have originally because everyone wants to see what all the fuss is about.


respect the dead, don't cash in on them.

[Funkstar]

I don't like it, but not for any reasons of respect, or lack of... undecided on that point. I just don't think it's a very good advert.

And another point about the "water" speech, whisky is often referred to as the water of life.

The word whisky (or whiskey) is an anglicisation of the Gaelic word uisce|uisge meaning water. Distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae="water of life".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky

[stevie lee]

thanks funkstar, makes a bit more sense now. but why didn't they mention that in the advert?
saves people like me not understanding what the flip is going on.

[Smudger]

I don't like it, but not for any reasons of respect, or lack of... undecided on that point. I just don't think it's a very good advert.

And another point about the "water" speech, whisky is often referred to as the water of life.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky

Just to add, whisky in Gaelic is Uisge Beatha, which also means 'Water of life'

[g8ina]

I would also add that Taosim, one of the more philosophical "religions" of the East, is often called the "water way". This can be seen from the wording of his script.

But no, I dont like it for similar reasons to those already stated.

[b0redom]

I don't think it's in bad taste, but I don't know anything about his life previously really. I just think it's a rubbish advert. Also, some of the close ups remind me of the cut scenes from Tekken. The face just doesn't look quite right.

[Smudger]

I haven't seen in, so in the best traditions of British journalism, I am going to pass judgement based on building outrage. It's disgusting! Filth! No wonder this country's going to the dogs etc etc...

[Lil-Diabo]

Some of the CGI looks a bit off.
Disrespectful or not, it's getting people talking about it.

Even as I sit here I'm imagining how good a whiskey would go down right about now.
(Self proclaimed sucker for marketing)

[stilkun]

Watching the whole advert and I thought it sound like advertisement for getting into Kung Fu (I can understand cantonese although it did sound like Mandarin) until the end of the advert I was like what the...

I don't like it because A) he never drank alcohol and B) the CGI of his face look weird.

[wasabi]

Don't have sound on the PC I'm using at the mo so can't hear it. To me, just going by visuals I think it looks quite slick. Not perfect, but pretty good. Wonder how long it will be before actors are mostly redundant and studios just use CGI?

[peterb]

When I drink blended whiskey, I drink Famous Grouse, and this advert isn't going to change that.

I'm not horrified by the use of his image, in fact the ad looked so dull I didn't watch more than 15 seconds of it anyway.

[wasabi]

When I drink blended whiskey, I drink Famous Grouse, and this advert isn't going to change that.

Recently got into the Lidl Queen Margot stuff - tastes almost identical and is £3-£4 / bottle cheaper. i.e. unlike some of the cheap stuff other supermarkets churn out, that tastes like B grade Latvian vodka with some old socks dunked in it to give a bit of colour.

[Willzzz]

When I drink blended whiskey, I drink Famous Grouse, and this advert isn't going to change that.

I'm not horrified by the use of his image, in fact the ad looked so dull I didn't watch more than 15 seconds of it anyway.

I cannot believe you just compared Johnnie Walker Blue Label to Famous Grouse..

Anyway, water (or liquor) is a very big part of whisky, it's essentially one of only two ingredients and will have a large effect on the taste of the final product.

[Ferral]

I think they could have advertised something a bit more relevant with the Water speech.

CGI is a little off I thought in places but I did find it interesting