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Monday, March 2, 2009

On the Web

G stands for geeks

Posted by Owen Morris on Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Ten days ago, we wrote about Gatorade's new line of drinks called "G" and how a large part of its audience is people with hangovers whose only exercise is 12-ounce curls.

Besides athletes and drunks, Gatorade apparently has a third audience -- geeks. If the company's new commercials are any indicators of who drinks Gatorade, it's comedy nerds who can quote Monty Python and have 10 minutes to watch Kevin Garnett err... King Garnett the Glorious and other athletes (Sir Jeter the Gifted, Sir Bolt the Gutsy) recreate a scene from Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
 


Forgetting for a second that the commercial is a parody of a movie that itself is a parody, it is funny to see Derek Jeter in chainlink armor. The script and the premise of these knights going around looking for "G" is less funny -- especially the Usain Bolt ego bit and the ending. (Oops spoiler!) The biggest irony is that the production values for the commercial far surpass the original movie.

The budget must have been huge for this commercial short film but who the heck is it aimed at? In an unscientific survey, I called my brother, who considers himself an athlete and lives with several actual collegiate athletes. I asked him if he'd seen the commercial and he corrected me and said "commercials." (Apparently the entire thing is broken into 30-second snippets during NBA games.) I then asked him if he'd ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He hadn't. I asked him if any of his roommates had seen it. Turns out only one had. I, however, am a big Monty Python fan who can barely point out sports stars -- I have no idea who the Jimmy character in the commercial is. The Monty Python angle goes over many athletes' heads while the athletes are lost on Monty Python fans.

If you're working out enough to actually need a sports drink, chances are you're still turning to Gatorade. But Gatorade is losing casual drinkers to competitors like VitaminWater and Red Bull. This commercial is a direct appeal to those drinkers, many of whom will get the Monty Python references even if they're like me and don't recognize who the hell those dancing masked people are.

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