It's bizarre that Spade, a close pal of Farley's, went along with this. He and DirecTV must have miscalculated the ad as a tribute to a great movie moment rather than a disturbing, insensitive money grab.
Or maybe Comcast put together the ad as a way to drive people away from DirecTV.
DirecTV Profits Off the Dead [The Mep Report]
(Thanks, Russ!)
I don't really see the problem with it. It is kind of clever really. Do people have a problem with this just because the one guy is dead? I mean it isn't like they butchered it or anything.
]]>Well, you still watch movies with dead actors in them...
]]>@karmaghost: I think Kennedy and conspiracy. :D
]]>Who is Chris Farley?
]]>It made me sad, poor Farley.
]]>@leastcmplicated: That's a great point. I was racking my brain, trying to think of all the other ones and I couldn't come up with one in which the actor who played the character had already died. Thanks for reminding me of the Poltergeist girl.
]]>Have you met DirecTV before?
]]>Well, that and I never cared much for either comedian's humor in the first place.
]]>When I say "Marilyn Monroe" do you think "a blowing white dress" or do you think "drug overdose?"
Maybe what matters is if they were alive and in the public eye while you were a live.
]]>It is HILARIOUS. Saw it for the first time last night and did a double-take because I thought the movie was actually being shown. They did a good job with it!
]]>Maybe they should have had Spade pull out Farley's skull from behind the sofa and say "Sorry, buddy. Spade's gotta eat."
]]>I thought it was off a bit at first, but love it now.
]]>So is the guy who did the popcorn
now THAT was creeeeepy
Nice ad - funny scene.
]]>When I saw this ad, the last thing thing that came to me was that this was disrespectful towards Chris Farley. It was just a clip of one of his most popular movies. What is the harm with that?
What I did think was that this ad and all the similar ads that Direct TV has done recent are just getting old. The ad style is worn and needs to be put away. How many more movies are they going to try this with? Funny the first time. Not so much now.
]]>I can't wait for the Silence of the Lambs version. Jame Gumb is saying "It puts the lotion in the basket," pan down to the poor girl in the well... "Boy, I sure wish I had DirecTV down here..."
]]>It was only annoying because after only 1 football game, I was singing "Fat Guy in Little Coat" all day.
]]>It's not that that late night ad guy who OD'd where they posted an ad post-mortum: selling orange Windex was what he did. Creepy and in poor taste, but it's clear it's what he would have done.
Farley's different, given his behavior before he died. So DirecTV is creepy and David Spade is a ghoulish freak whoring the memory of his "friend".
]]>Meh - I think fans of Spade/Farley ultimately see the humor in this and have little to no issue with it. Besides, I highly doubt David Spade would've gone along with it had he felt it was cruel or insensitive to his good friend's memory.
I'm sure Chris Farley is up at some big bar in the sky smiling down, knowing he still lives on ;)
]]>@segfault: Say dad I can't see real well, is that Bill Shakespeare over there?
]]>@bornonbord: I wasn't talking about the intent of the commercial, only that by using the film footage of Farley, it wasn't nearly as creepy as digitally re-creating Orville Redenbacher, who by 2007 (when the new commercials launched) was long dead. I have no problem with using Farley to promote DirecTV because it's not really too important what Farley may have thought about DirecTV. It's not as if Phillip Morris wanted to use his likeness and image to promote cigarettes.
]]>And the fact that it's David Spade in it as well is really weird. He almost looks awkward participating.
It would be a tribute if it were more centered on Farley and all of life legacy of Farley - kind of like that "what if James Dean lived" ad.
]]>@JPropaganda: It looks like the May 21 book event at the Verona Public Library was for 2009 since it's not listed under the 2008 event listings. Some small nonprofits can only do one or two major events a year.
]]>Is it because the guy had "a bit of a weight problem"? Let it go.
]]>monroe
dean
wayne
elvis
che
malcolm x
like a poster said...... i've got other things to worry about.
]]>I find it odd this story does not even hint at the fact that rights to Chris Farley's work would be owned by his estate/family and THEY would have had to approve this ad for it to have been done.
Did we think that perhaps Chris Farley's family was cool with this and asked David Spade to participate? While no mega-star, I am sure Spade didn't need the couple extra bucks.
]]>Stay classy, DirecTV.
]]>@segfault:
@BeyondtheTech: I saw Tupac at McDonalds.
@pecan 3.14159265: nor is this Farley resurrection as creepy as the Dirt Devil (?) commercials where Fred Astaire danced with a vacuum cleaner. Now if Chris's lines had been dubbed over, that would bother me.
]]>But yet you have time to waste posting comments here.
]]>I didn't interpret it as being questionable. The man died, albeit in a very tragic way, but that was over 10 years ago. That scene is the most famous one in the movie. I saw the commercial as being more of a tribute and less of a money grab because it is a pretty iconic scene.
It's not like the Orville Redenbacher commercials in which they digitally resurrected the popcorn king. Now that is creepy.
]]>I just saw him last week with Tupac at the O-Town concert.
]]>