Deaf Commercial to air suring superbowl

[jenml]

I hope this is true... it would be kind of cool. This is the email I just received from one of my sisters (I don't know where she heard it from). Hopefully many (of you) already know the famous Deaf joke where this idea came from (about the man staying at a hotel but forgot his room number...).

Pepsi Bets on Golden Silence
If silence makes you uncomfortable, a commercial Pepsi will run during the Super Bowl next Sunday might make you squirm. The ad, based on a joke popular in the deaf community, runs for 60 seconds without any sound. In it, two deaf men find their deaf friend Bob's house by laying on the horn -- his is the house that doesn't light up. Bobbie Beth Scoggins of the National Association of the Deaf said the ad was a historic first and will leave deaf viewers in happy disbelief. "It's a popular story and we just turned it into an advertisement," said Pepsi supply manager Clay Broussard, who pitched the idea. "This is the PepsiCo flavor of that joke."

[jenml]

(from the MetroBits newsletter)-

"Scrolling through my MSN Home Page and came across this one that has to be shared although an exact reprint is forbidden. .. so here is the synopsis....

Super Bowl Sunday ads are expensive and are sometimes more interesting than the game. This year pre-game advertisement features a joke that originates from the deaf community and will play out on screen over 60 seconds of total silence.

Many of us know the joke... One night two friends are driving to visit their buddy to watch the Super Bowl (naturally). But, they've forgotten which house is their buddy's. What to do??? Start honking the horn non stop and see whose lights DON'T switch on.

Bobbie Beth Scoggins, President NAD commented that the Deaf community will be cheering over this ad. While the man who portrays the "buddy" is not deaf, the two actors who play the friends are Deaf- Brian Dowling and Darren Therriault. All three work for PepsiCo."

[hollmil]

This is a very cool commercial. You can view it early at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrq6cUoE5A. It is also available at Pepsi's site in the Bob's House section.

Holly Miller
http://hollytriedit.blogspot.com

[StaceyHay]

I just viewed the commercial. It is great. I think it will be terrific if it does get aired.

[Sally6473]

That's so neat!

[ImJAZZed14]

That was AWESOME! :)

[Lynja_the_ninja]

I think it's great!!!!!! I think all of the Deaf community will know about it before the super bowl, but it will be fun to hear the hearing communities reaction to it after it airs. :)

[fia's mom]

I got the email 2 days ago about this and have been so excited. When I had read the other day what it was about I bust out laughing as I already knew the joke. The fact that this was a brain child of Pepsi-Co employees and it's Pepsi-Co employees in the commercial and not actors is awesome. The employees came up with this 18 months ago. The supervisor that it was presented to loved it so much that it was taken to much higher up and they decided it needed a HUGE 1st showing. It doesn't get much bigger than the Super Bowl when it comes to commercials. I'm glad a large company like Pepsi-Co FINALLY came up with this concept.

A little background about the 3 men. "Bob" is actually a hearing Pepsi-Co employee in Dallas who attended a church with his wife where the services were conducted completely in sign language. He came up with the concept for the commercial based off of the popular deaf joke. The 2 friends in the car are both deaf, one works for Frito-Lay in Arizona and the other for Pepsi-Co in Dallas.

[jenml]

NAD Works With PepsiCo on
Super Bowl Ad in American Sign Language

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A News Release from the National Association of the Deaf
Release Date: January 24, 2008

Contact:
Anita B. Farb
Director, Communications and Operations
National Association of the Deaf
Email: www.nad.org/contactus


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NAD Works With PepsiCo on Super Bowl Ad in American Sign Language

Silver Spring, MD – The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was asked by PepsiCo to provide advice, feedback, and comments on a 60-second commercial filmed entirely in American Sign Language (ASL), with open captions for hearing viewers. The PepsiCo ad, featuring PepsiCo employees, will be aired on February 3, 2008 during the Super Bowl pre-game program.

Slated to air on the FOX network, the PepsiCo ad is designed to bring greater awareness of the American deaf community to a wide audience. PepsiCo will also sponsor captioning of the entire Super Bowl broadcast.

"The NAD applauds PepsiCo for its strong commitment to diversity and empowerment through the creation of this exciting ad in ASL with its employees,” said Bobbie Beth Scoggins, president of the NAD. “This ground-breaking ad creatively uses humor to provide a glimpse of deaf culture and heightened awareness to millions of Super Bowl Sunday viewers.”

President Scoggins and others at the NAD provided consultation on the story boards, pre-production plans, and post production editing. She was also interviewed by PepsiCo and quoted in their press release. In addition, a description of the NAD and link to the NAD website will be included on the PepsiCo website.

This all started in the summer of 2006 when a group of PepsiCo employees, each with their own personal connection to the American deaf community, set off on their own to create a commercial with a deaf focus and broad appeal. None of the employees are performers or marketing specialists - they came up with the concept, wrote the script, and then acted it out, sharing a demo tape with their colleagues. The ad eventually gained support from senior management, which decided that the commercial needed a big stage. Naturally, they chose the biggest - Super Bowl Sunday. The title of the ad is “Bob’s House” and it is based on a popular joke within the deaf community.




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About the NAD

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was established in 1880 by deaf leaders on the belief in the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. These beliefs remain true to this day, with American Sign Language as a core value. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to promote, protect, and preserve the quality of life and rights of 31 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans. The civil rights advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, and more. For more information, please visit www.nad.org.

[jenml]

I hope this link works... it's a page from About Deafness that I subscribe to because they have great topics. There's a link here that takes you to other sign language commercials (I remember when some of them were originally out! Ugh, I'm so old!!).

Enjoy...


http://deafness.about.com/od/media/f/commercials.html

Click on the question (Are there any more commercials with sign language)
and then click on the YouTube link where it talks about Kelloggs and McDonald's...

[alices_dad]

Here's the link to the Pepsi commercial at their site:
http://www.pepsi.com/bobshouse/
(http://www.pepsi.com/bobshouse/)

It's a fun watch.

[aligreat]

I wrote a letter via email to Pepsico to thank them for sharing the beauty of ASL with so many people. This is the response I received:

Dear Alison, Thank you so much for taking the time to contact us at Pepsi-Cola and for your kind words about our very special commercial, “Bob’s House.” We couldn’t be more proud of this commercial and the people whose creativity, sensitivity, and effort went into making a truly groundbreaking television experience. The spot was developed by and features some of our own employees who are members of EnAble, an internal network whose mission is to promote a more inclusive environment for people with different abilities. I can tell you that the outpouring of support, both inside the company and among viewers, has been overwhelming. It’s truly gratifying to all of us at PepsiCo to know that our 60-second message has resonated so positively and helped to raise public awareness. Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback. We really appreciate your friendship and support.

Stephanie White
Consumer Relations Representative