A young high school student shows the girl he has a crush on the art piece he has created in her honor. He brings her to the school’s art center and puts on the song “Hello” by Lionel Richie. The work of art is a likeness of the girl formed out of Starburst candy. When the sculpture is displayed the girl looks frightened and disgusted but the student is excited by his work and begins to describe how he used lemon candies for the hair because her hair is fragrant like fresh lemons and red cherry candies for her lips, because her lips are juicy like cherries. He kisses the cherry candy sculpture lips and the girl begins to back out of the room. When the student describes the nose he bites it and passionately begins to devour the Starburst sculpture. The commercial ends with the Starburst candy being displayed on a solid screen.
Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day, Inc Gerry Graf, executive creative director; Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone, group creative directors; Ashley Davis, copywriter; Craig Allen, art director; Ozzie Spenningsby, director of broadcast production; Laura Ferguson, producer. Production Company: MJZ Rocky Morton, director; Julian Whatley, DP; Jeff Scrutin, executive producer; Helen Hollien, producer. Shot on location in Los Angeles. Editorial: MacKenzie Cutler Dave Koza, editor; Mona Salma, assistant editor; Melissa Miller, producer. Postproduction: Schmigital,Company 3 New York Matt Monson, online editor; Juliet Conti, online producer.,Tim Masick, colorist. Visual Effects: Stardust Jake Banks, creative director; Dan Sormani, producer; PJ Richardson, art director; Lauren Hartstone, designer/animator. Audio: Sound Lounge,MacKenzie Cutler Glen Landrum, mixer.,Marc Healy, sound designer.
Toyota, Burrell, Director Paul Hunter and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Prove EV Skeptics Wrong In “Haters Anthem”
Toyota and Chicago-based agency Burrell have launched the Toyota BEV Family Campaign: a series of spots that follow electric vehicle skeptics as they’re won over by the bZ, bZ Woodland, and C-HR, one by one.
The campaign’s hero spot, “Haters Anthem,” opens on three skeptics portrayed as puppets, each one doubtful and vocal about it, who are converted into Toyota BEV believers after getting behind the wheel. When they convert, the puppets transform into their human selves.
To build them, Burrell partnered with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which designed and built five custom puppets over six weeks, each with intricate mechanisms for unique arm and foot movements. A dedicated hairdresser ensured curly locs, fades, and twists were executed precisely and matched across both the puppet and human versions of each character. An all-Black puppeteer team, led by puppet captain Raymond Carr, handled performance and choreography throughout.
The work was directed by Paul Hunter via production house PRETTYBIRD, with “Haters Anthem” by Infinity Song, a four-sibling soft rock band signed to Roc Nation.
Burrell’s creative is grounded in a real audience insight: Black consumers have been underserved by the EV category, and nobody has built a campaign that reflects their vision of what electric driving looks and feels like. This one does. The humor, the music, the puppetry, and the transformation are all in service of a single idea: get someone skeptical behind the wheel, and let the car close the deal.
“There’s a thin line between a skeptic and a hater, and we leaned into that energy instead of away from it,” said Tara DeVeaux, CEO of Burrell. “The puppets give us permission to be honest about the doubt, and the... Read More