US brand RC Cola made a shocking buzz across all social media platforms when it released a surrealist promotional video for its carbonated drink product.
Strangely titled “Nyahahakbkxjbcjhishdishlsab@!!!! Basta RC Cola!”, the minute-and-a-half long advertisement was initially premiered on Youtube on November 25, and would later on hit the brand’s other social media pages — ultimately trending on Twitter 2 days after.
The video showed a crestfallen boy who just came home from school, asking if the rumors of him being adopted are true and that he is being bullied by his classmates because of it. His mother quickly denied all claims to soothe her son’s worries.
Shortly after, the confrontation escalates in a weird manner as the boy reveals the glass cups attached to his back.
The mother breaks into tears, feeling obliged to tell her son the “truth”. She then detaches her head from her body, exposing a bottle of RC Cola inside.
Netizens gave mixed feedback. Some were delighted by the weirdness but others just got freaked out.
RC Cola Ad is pure virality, ladies and gents. No rhyme nor reason and that's ok. It worked.
— drdrng (@drdrng) November 26, 2020
Creepy ad… i won't buy it again… #BastaRCCola
— She's strong but she's tired (@dfallen_angel) November 28, 2020
Furthermore, Martin Narvaez, a math teacher and also a member of an adoption support group, raised some concerns regarding the ad’s use of “pagiging ampon” in a trivial way.
Narvaez said, “It is catchy, witty for some, but makes fun of something which is a serious topic for some — that is adoption.” He thinks that the video could be improved if the bit on adoption is tweaked, to be viewed more favorably by the common eye.
He added, “Being part of an adoption support group, we are advocating and promoting legal adoption. We would want to encourage more parents to consider giving a home to many kids who have been abondoned and left at birth. Part of our advocacy to to promote success stories of adopted children and adoptive families. We would want to remove the stigma about ampon being not good, just like what is being used as plot of teleseryes etc.”
As of writing, the advertisement amassed 481k reacts and 49k comments on Facebook and more than 13k tweets on Twitter. Various memes, parodies, and analyses related to the video clip surfaced as the topic reached a larger audience.
Following this unexpected success, Gigil, the multi-awarded creative group behind all the fuss, was featured in PhilSTAR’s L!fe interviews to shed some light on the ad’s concept.
When asked about the group’s motivation, Gigil Associate Creative Director Dionie Tañada humorously said, “That’s what people always ask me, ano daw ang hini-hithit namin sa Gigil? They call us crazy, baliw; they say our ideas are out of this world. We take these as compliments.”
“Maraming bagay na you don’t need to know why. Isa na dun yung pag inom ng softdrink. And when you ask somebody, a Gen Z kung bakit niya gusto ang isang bagay, isang kanta, di nila kailangan explain”, said Jake Yrastorza, Gigil’s Managing Partner, in an attempt to explain his his thought process.
