Diary: Mr T's call to 'get some nuts' is heeded online

Campaign 18-May-07

Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's Snickers ad starring Mr T is whipping up a frenzy in the online community, with members of Facebook and contributors to YouTube chipping in to express their views more vociferously than usual.

For example, Facebook groups devoted to the tongue-in-cheek ad have more
than 2,000 members signed up already.

The comments about the ad have also been broadly positive: "Awesome ad,
really couldn't stop laughing. Now all my housemates want me to drive

them around so they can throw Snickers at people," one student with far

more time on his hands than by rights he really should have gushes.

There are already homages on YouTube. In one, a child who looks like
he's had a few too many chocolates plays the role of the footballer,
while his dad, a balding, white, thirtysomething with a Mr T-style black
afro drawn on his pate in black felt-tip pen, pulls up in a battered 70s
car to deliver the killer line: "Get some nuts."

However, a backlash aimed at the ad has also begun. One poster on
brandrepublic.com uses the ad to launch a withering tirade: "This
70s/80s wankathon is shit now. I expect DFS will find a way of using
Manimal in their next ad for God's sake. Bore off."