Hey, it's Blade Runner and Coca-Cola together again! Remember that time when Coca had big advertsing almost all over the futuristic L. A. in Ridley Scott's cult film?
So, the film tanked at the box-office back in 1982 and along with that a minor derailment of many products promoted within the movie either failed in the following years
or had terrible business in which was later called the "Blade Runner effect", and Coca Cola was a significant part of that trend when they pitifuly changed their
products formula upsetting thousands of consumers. So I wondered: either Coca-Cola were nuts or just didn't had hard feelings about the movie (after all, it was their
fault for making a bad business with themselves) or they just trusted a talented director's instincts in creating his own commercial. You choose.
By the time David Fincher made "Coca-Cola: Blade Roller" he was already a known name in the advertising/music videos business and the sci-fi classic "Blade Runner"
was already gaining new fans and becoming a celebrated film, position of which grows more and more as times goes by. Fincher was one of the people who ressurected
the film to its cult status and this short film is a clear evidence of such, a fantastic tribute to the film and one of Coca's most significant promos ever made.
The film's settings are practically all there: sequences shot at night, neon colors everywhere, futuristic designs and style but without the characters and almost
no visual effects. Roller-blading guys in 2021's Zero-City cause a rebellion, running away from cops during a curfew. They run and move in spectacular choreographies,
steal bottles of Coca and are admired for their skills on the blades. One of the fans is an Asian kid watching one of the guys below his window. More is not needed
to be said about how they form a connection.
Excellent way to sell the product (except for the stealing part), there's impact and rhythm, the stunning art-direction makes you feel that you habit that place (just like in the movie) and it's
a perfect tribute to one of my favorite fims of all time. My only complaint about the ad is that it's not longer like those Super Bowl style of epic proportions clips
we have these days. Other than that, it's one of the greatest commercials ever made. 9/10.
