Darth Vader's hankering for beans on toast frustrated in Woolies ad

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 08-Jun-07, 15:50

LONDON - Woolworths is making its cinema advertising debut with a 60-second ad starring Darth Vader and brand characters Wooly and Worth.

The Bartle Bogle Hegarty produced commercial has been shot in the style of a sitcom, complete with canned laughter. Most of the humour is at the expense of the Dark Lord of the Sith, who is trying to make beans on toast for lunch at Wooly and Worth's house. However, he discovers that there is no toaster, so Worth tells Wooly to pop down to Woolworths to buy a £5 toaster from the Worthit! range.

Wooly eventually manages to find the front door to leave, though not before opening the wrong door and discovering a stormtrooper in a cupboard. Upon arriving at Woolworths, the hapless sheep fails to buy a toaster and is instead distracted into buying a lightsabre and Star Wars DVD.

Darth Vader's fury is provoked when Wooly returns toasterless. He draws his lightsabre and menacingly approaches the petrified sheep. The scene jumps to a product shot of the Worthit! toaster, then back to a shot of the living room, wrecked and smoking as a result of Darth Vader's recent rampage.

In the final scene, Darth Vader sweeps the glowing blade of his lightsabre across some slices of bread to toast them. They end up burnt.

"Bit on the dark side, isn't it?" quips Worth.

Lee Bannister, brand marketing communications manager at Woolworths, said: "This execution is seriously funny, while at the same time showcasing the ridiculously low prices of the Worthit! products.

"This is one of the best ads Woolworths has ever produced and it represents a significant first. The first time we've ever recorded a screen ad for an own-brand, that's how important Worthit! is to the company.

"But there's also Woolworths brand work in there as well. The fact that Wooly returns from the store with something other than he went in for, tells a story that our customers often relay to us -- you forget what you go in for at Woolies because you find products you never knew you needed."