"sgt. rock," tvc 30 seconds
writer's note: the
ad's basic idea was outgoing (resigned) CD Boy Leuterio's,
inspired by the movie "Full Metal Jacket" he saw on
cable the night previous. But being Boy's new writer at copy, I
guess I had a few basic contributions to this ad. One was
collaborating on the ending "ready to
quit" which was partly inspired by what I remember
from ROTC -- when a commandant there asks us to do twenty push-ups
and soon follows it up with the classic question "what,
sympathize?" (sic). [Actually they pronounce it as "simpatise"].
Our team's art director, Bernie, probably initiated it with the notion that it might be best to have the man falling
off from standing instead of from the outgoing (resigned) CD Boy's original idea of
the sarge sitting in
front of the fan on a table, his head falling down on the table.
Also, I thought casting must consider
comicality as crucial to the ad. This somehow conflicted with
Catalytx president Richard's favor for the American drill sergeant's uniform (which
I initially thought was for
comical impact). I thought this lessened the desire for a comical
face. Later I concurred, after discussing with Boy and production head
Robert Harn and arriving at the comic virtue of combining serious/"pogi"
personality and a flaw. I thought the flaw must be in the accent.
Somewhere along the way, the accent was again lessened,
purportedly for clarity's sake. I threw in the towel.
Finally, I thought the slogan too
competition-taunting, so I turned it into the merely self-aware
but strongly-claiming final slogan "Tibay-Tested" (which
incidentally aptly rhymed with the thought
"torture-tested").
