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Brazil shills the pill

So I'm watching TV and this pharmaceutical ad comes on that I've seen a million times but suddenly something about it looks oddly familiar.

Sure enough, the "There She Goes" spot for Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo (a "lite" version of the birth control pill) was shot in Rio. On repeated viewing I don't see how I ever missed it -- there's Sugarloaf plain as day, along with a bunch of footage from the Jardim Botânico (even Tom Jobim's tree) and the underside of Oscar Neimeyer's UFO-like museum in Niteroi. Not to mention buckets of pretty Brazilian models. But I never noticed until I happened to catch the pedras portuguesas in the initial three seconds.

So is someone outsourcing the production of TV-commercial eye candy to Brazil? Seems like a natural thing to do.

Update: The fascinating Advertising Age Agency Preview site says the ad was produced by Alchemy and its country of production is the US. Looking through some of Alchemy's other ads I see this one for the calcium supplement Viactiv (free registration required) which doesn't have any obvious Rio landmarks but does have -- bingo! -- pedras portuguesas. I wonder how many other Alchemy ads were also shot there, with or without clues?

Trivia like this aside, the Agency Preview site gives some fascinating insights into the ad world. Each ad lists its "philosophy". The philosophy of a Motrin ad, for instance, is "To become the badge of honor for aggressive medicating women everywhere."

For the multitudes who care about this topic (that's you, Colin) but might run into technical difficulties at thepill.com, you can also log in and watch the There She Goes spot at Agency Preview.

I find it amusing that the music, the Bahian imagery, and all the beautiful naifs dancing around - we're free! we're free! we're free! - are competing against the chilling monologue of sideeffects. I love the contrast ;-)

Mel, that's a common surreal element in most ads for prescription drugs in the US these days. The advertisers are required to state the side effects and I guess they're required to do so at the same speed and volume at which they tout the benefits -- otherwise you'd get the speeded up "notavailableinsomestates certainrestrictionsapply voidwhereporhibited yourmileagemayvary" fine (audio) print common in other kinds of ads, especially on radio.

Is that handled differently in Canada? You may not even have ads for prescription drugs there -- I don't think we did here until a few years ago.

P.S. I just caught the "htmel" joke! Good one!

Yeah, we've got them up here too but for some reason I was really tuned into the sideeffects this time. Hmmm. But then, the side effects are *always* the exact opposite of the glee of the people in the ads. For me the most fun thing about these ads is the outlandishly happy state of the subjects. There's one (I think it's for viagara or another similar product) where a 60's ish man comes home to find his stepford wife painting his portrait as a sea captain (the portrait looks like some gay porn captain highliner). The music is the welcome back kotter theme music... these ads just beg semiotic analysis.

Did you see this Brazil-produced ad on boingbong?

hey! you can get the "Bush is a punk ass chump" stickers at Bookwoman at 12th and Lamar.

Chris: very cute. The Agency Preview site identifies that ad as being done by a French firm, BDDP & Fils. You can also see their other work for Manix. That definitely looks like the Rio seafront; there must be some subcontracting going on.

(Alas, the free Agency Preview accounts seem to expire in 24 hours...)

Okay, here's another one: the "Brand New Day" ad for Valtrex, a genital herpes medication. I only saw a couple of seconds of the ad, but it was enough to spot a couple kissing on the beach with Sugar Loaf behind them.

So are there a million of these ads shot in Brazil for the gringo market?

Funny you should mention the Valtrex one. I was going to mention it in my last comment. The woman riding around on her bike ::ouch:: .. I thought they were at Club Med or something). She's like those women in tampon commercials... out being active and fun despite the vile body. I watch that commercial and I think "honey, get off that damned bike. No guy is worth it!" She may not be feeling pain but she's probably doing a number on her...

Over at Luciana Misura's blog there's a discussion (see the comments) of this and other commercials shot in Rio for export. Oh, yeah, it's in Portuguese.

I may have found another one: the "see more" or "more to see" ad for Sharp Aquos flat-panel TVs. This one features people doing various activities and walking around a nondescript urban environment with their eyes closed. No dialogue, just voiceover. The ethnic mix looks right for a bunch of Brazilian models. No pedras portuguesas, no Sugarloaf, but what first triggered the thought that it could be Brazilian was a waterfall and a woman running down a path that could be Tijuca.

However, I can't find the ad online, just a Sharp news release about the campaign as a whole, of which this is the opening salvo. No mention of Brazil. This ad is pointedly absent from the more to see website.

I'm enjoying this game, handicapped though I may be by not watching more television! But one of these days I'm sure I'll find a Brazilian ad industry site which answers all these questions and takes the fun out of it.

There are two other commercials shot in Brazil - Oral B thooth brush and Samsonite luggage. Looks like a growing industry.

I thought that Oral B commercial looked familiar! Even without pedras portuguesas or Sugar Loaf. There's a recognizable style to those ads that I can't put a finger on -- something about the lighting, the fashion sense and their taste in models I guess. And the fact that they have no dialogue, just voiceovers.