Great Moments In Commercial History: Domino's Pasta Dude
Back in early '08, to promote their new line of pasta primavera items, Domino's rolled out a screechy-voiced CGI rigatoni that raps about the joys of oven-baked pasta, reports SoGood. "Pasta Dude" some rhymes, then he busts out some dance moves that look like he's bending over an imaginary dance partner and slapping them across the rear. This, apparently, was cause for controversy.
In another version with a different voice, presumably the "sanitized" one, he just places his out, palms down and parallel, and thrusts his hips. The word is that the commercials got pulled, not because they're horrible, but because some viewers found Pasta Dude's moves to be vulgar. However, the ads still aired for a while time in in L.A. and the West Coast, a nod to its rich history of people, with varying degrees of success and skill, trying to be rappers.
But judging by the campaign's short life, it seems the rhymin' rigatoni's final cries of "Pasta playa hata" were prescient. At least now we finally know what happened to The Noid; he knocked up a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese.
TRANSCRIPT
Mom: Why can't we ever agree on what to eat?
Pasta Dude: Check it, y'all, with the hip hops to perfecta from Domino's!
(screams)
Dad: What are you?
Pasta Dude: Five varieties of oven-fresh yum, the whole family's down, we're all gettin' some!
Kid: This is tight.
Pasta Dude: Pasta dude, uh! Pasta Dude, yeah!
(Mom yells)
Kid: Mom....!
Pasta Dude: Pasta playa hata...
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Comments:
Jesus. That thing looks like it was made by the clowns who do the Capital One ads.
Annoying and over the top.
I'm offended! And deeply amused by this. That's about the scariest way you could sell pasta.
The way he keeps squatting, it looks like he's trying to tea bag the food.
Ahh! If they're gonna put terrifying and horribly dated mascots in their commercials I would prefer the Noid.
I'll never eat pasta again.
I actually think it's really hilarious. It seems like it's making fun of "corporate cool" - a mascot designed to reach a younger audience, but designed by someone who has no idea what is actually considered cool. Think Poochy from The Simpsons.
That, combined with the family freaking out and destroying it, really lambasts how no one ever reacts to these artificially hip icons just sauntering into their house and telling them what to eat/wear/buy.
As I think I read over at Gawker, the best thing about this ad is that the family reacts in the way you'd expect them to react upon seeing an anthropomorphic rigatoni rapping about pasta.
Haha, priceless. I wish this approach had been taken at least once with the Pillsbury Doughboy.
"Oh God a talking pastry! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!"
I just realized one of the kids knocked down the vacuum cleaner. Those little snots, sacrificing their mom to save themselves!
I think that commercial needs to come back, but have some kind of movie tie-in. Maybe in its next incarnation, the rapping rigatoni can be blasted away by Ironman's missiles or be strangled by his own neck chain with Professor X's awesome psychic abilities.
@undefined: Ba-zing! Boy those corporate types really stuck it to.. themselves! "Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?!?"
The whole self-aware meta commercial thing is a little old at this point. They're just looking for bonus viral irony points.
@theblackdog: lol, if you didn't post that up, I was going to instead.
Yeah, that commercial totally reminded me of the Sprite commercial.
Commercial is seriously awesome at 0:15-0:18.
AWW YEEAH! PASTA DUDE! PASTA DUDE!
Oh please. Working in tv, I can tell you that the creative people who work in advertising and the corporate executives who butt in are two different groups, and neither the twain shall meet. It's ad industry people making fun of their own bosses, of the sorts of things they're forced to do when everyone knows it's stupid and weird.
People who work in advertising are indeed -people-, and when they manage to slip one like this by their analytical, buzzword-wielding bosses it's funny.
Niether the twain...? Geez, I'm tired. That should read "never the twain shall meet". Blergh.
@Christopher Bragg: Dagnabbit. I just jumped the gun and posted that before I scrolled down and saw you beat me by, like, AN HOUR.
That reminds me of a Sunny Delight or some juice commercial where a cartoon sun crawls off a package and starts talking about the product, thus freaking out the family. Rip-off!
Any commercial, Wendy's training video or Saturday morning public service announcement is better with rap. It's a rule.
Pasta Bitch' Pasta Bitch'
Props to mom in that ad; I think we know who wears the pants in that marriage.
@pecan 3.14159265: The commercial reminds me of that episode of "The Simpsons" where they go to that George Lucas-esque ranch and, in the studio, they're filming a "rapping breadstick" commercial for Olive Garden.
This was freakin' hilarious, and his dance moves are most righteous, what y'all be trippin' 'bout?!
I never saw that before..it was pretty funny..rigatoni slappin dat azzz.. hahhaaa
Yay for a transcript!
I like it when the dad says "What are you?!"
Why does it take Dominoes 30 minutes to make and deliver such a small pasta dish?
In 30 minutes, you could make those yourself. How hard is it to boil some pasta, dump a jar of sauce on it, and add veggies (primavera) or crumbled bacon (carbonara) - or do both and have "prima-bonara"?
"places his out, palms down "
"However, the ads still aired for a while time in in L.A."
I love the consumerist, but you guys don't seem to take even a cursory second glance at your posts anymore; so many errors all the time. This was the title of one recent post "Walmart Only Institutes Initializes Anti-Trampling Measures At NY Stores"
Only Institutes Initializes?
Please don't disemvowel me.
That is all at once disturbing and kind of awesome. And I can see why it got pulled, but at the same time...rapping rigatoni!