John St: ExFEARiential - (2013)

WARNING: The snark-quotient is high in this prank-ad.

To compete with the recent wave of extreme pranks from marketers, Toronto agency john st. has launched their own exFEARiential marketing division. Muggings, carjackings, riots – there’s nothing they won’t do to get your brand noticed.

Bless'em, john st. Having clearly grown as tired as we have with the increasingly scary and bizarre prankvertising stunts that spread on the web, John St. show us the future and by doing so prank everyone who don't understand that this is a joke (and there's plenty!) Check out the baby stunt stress test for a antiperspirant where they kidnap a baby, and the comments underneath that video where people clearly think it's a real ad. Because just like the international fugitive at the airport stress test for Nivea, this is to test your deodorant. They also did a home invasion stunt to shill beer, which is oh ha ha, almost as scary as the Carlsberg Poker game gone awry stunt. Some of us aren't just finding these pranks, stocked full of actors, rather unbelievable, we also don't find the pranks very entertaining when we have empathy for the people cruelly pranked. The thing about ads is that they shouldn't just spread, they should sell. Even sell out. Which reminds me of another deodorant stress test in the form of a jingle that's never been topped. "Her deodorant had let her down. She should have used Odorono."

ad agency: john st.
Directed by Jono Hunter @ OPC//FamilyStyle