Snickers: Get Some Nuts

Shot 1: Establishing shot of the soccer field where the commercial will be set.






Shot 2: Long-shot of a soccer player who has just been "fouled" writhing in pain and complaining to the ref. This establishes the player as a main character of the commercial. The foul was clearly almost nonexistent and the player is milking his "injury" for all its worth.



Shot 3: Medium shot of the player responding to an approaching rumbling. It is a deep, ominous sound and his reaction of ceasing to complain and look into the distance creates rising action for what is about to appear.





Shot 4: The frame changes over to the street outside of the park, the noise is louder than ever. Then, bursting over the parked cars is a tank going full speed. The cars explode in an awesome climax. This shot looks as if a wide-angle lens was used. Music starts here in great, sweeping tones, like the charge of the calvary.




Shot 5: In a medium shot, the tank approaches the player, the massive gun ends up pointing inches from his face. The player is now on his feet with no idea how to react to this predicament.





Shot 6: A medium shot of Mr. T as he opens the roof of the tank and exclaims, "Quit your jibber-jabber! You aint' hurt, your pathetic!" as he chucks a Snickers bar at the player's head.





Shot 7: A medium shot of the player being hit with the snickers, obviously shamed.








Shot 8: Return to the medium shot of Mr. T as he speaks some words of wisdom. "If I ever catch you acting like crazy fool again, you're gonna meet my friend, pain!" He lifts his fist in a menacing gesture.





Shot 9: A long shot of falling action with the tank exploding off of the soccer field with Mr T's image superimposed on the foreground within a "Snickers: Get Some Nuts" logo below him.




This commercial's use of over-the-top imagery, music, and language creates an overall effect of absurdity. The claim that a candy bar will make you more of a "man" as exemplified by the character of Mr. T is clearly ridiculous, but ultimately effective in creating humor. The pun on "nuts" of course adds to the overall ridiculousness. I actually found this piece on a "funniest commercials" website and later discovered that it had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on youtube. It is certainly speaking to the effectiveness of a commercial when people are actively seeking it out. While this commercial had little or nothing to do with reality, I can't deny the fact that I was left with a strong desire to eat a Snickers bar-go figure.