Bradley Cooper in a Viral Video for Limitless
By Krystal Clark
Viral marketing never ceases to amaze us. A new video has magically appeared online that features actor Bradley Cooper as a spokesman for a drug. No, this isn’t his lost audition tape or Love and Other Drugs, he wants to sell us a little, clear pill called NZT. We believe this is being used as a marketing tool for his upcoming film Limitless, which was formerly known as Dark Fields.
In Limitless, Cooper plays “an average guy with writers block whose world completely changes after the drug in question bestows him with super human abilities.” Crazy right? NZT is supposed to help you reach your full mental and physical potential, which sounds like a great thing but we all know that too much of anything is bad.
If we didn’t know this was for a movie, we might think it was legit. It’s not that far off from the celebrity endorsements we see on a regular basis. Plus, who wouldn’t mind looking at Cooper multiple times throughout the day? Limitless is directed by Neil Burger and co-stars Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish.
What do you think of the viral video for Limitless? Are you interested in seeing the film?
Source: NYP
Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:28AM
I hate to overanalyze movie marketing and late night drug commercials, but you really have to appreciate what they're doing here. It's subversive, biting, satirical, and damn near scathing. I'm captivated. It openly mocks with such a relentless tone, that if this were to have appeared on late night tv, before it had been sent around to all the blogs with those fancy usb keys, there is no question this wouldn't have passed as 100% legit. There's a lot of hopeless (worthless), depressed, sad people out there who would kill for a pill like this. Are you kidding me? Just watch Hoarders or Intervention, and count the commercials just like this one. Have you seen the ads for Cymbalta? "Depression hurts. Cymbalta can help." Not to mention, there's quite a number of legit celebrities who endorse similar products, pills, birth control, foods, makeups, insurance, dog food, etc. Examining this video, from to the choice (dare I saw throw-away) shots from the movie that make it seem like a real pharmaceutical informercial (the guy smiling in the bar absolutely kills me), to the cheesy incredibly simple graphics, and my god, that music. It's as bad (brilliant) as everything I've come to expect from the music for the commercials with Bob and his Boner Pills, to the NuvaRing song, to Activiiaaaaa, to Lap Band's "Let your new life begin, call 1800-get thin". Everything about this could pass off as the real thing, had it not been for the recent public announcement of the film's title change. I have to say, Relativity hasn't been much for this kind of subversive viral marketing, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction for the company. The movie definitely has my interest. I'm eager to see where they take this.
Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:49PM
[...] week a viral video starring Bradley Cooper surfaced, and it featured the actor pushing a super pill called NZT. In [...]