(UPDATED: 7:20 p.m.) A popular sardines company’s tuna brand is the latest to release odd commercials during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mega Tuna on Saturday released a video advertisement that drew mixed reactions from consumers.
The short video follows a woman and a lizard in what appeared to be alternate universes of eating the brand’s Spanish Style Tuna variety.
When the woman was eating her tuna meal, a common house gecko nearby seemed to be seeking to get a taste of it too.
Halfway through, the scenes turned upside down, were replayed and then the woman and lizard oddly exchanged places.
The caption on Mega Tuna’s YouTube and Facebook posts read: “WATCH ‘TIL THE END. #MaiinggitSilaSaSarap.”
The video has since earned more than 14,800 shares on Facebook; 28,100 reactions and 2,800 comments. The reactions were mostly positive wherein 24,300 are laugh emojis and 2,900 are likes.
The comments section was also initially filled with sentiments of users being creeped out and others praising the creative team behind the commercial.
Some social media users later shared some interesting theories about what the short scene depicted.
“It represents the duality of man when it comes to the wants. Na lahat ng creatures nagkakainggitan whether they’re big or small. Of course kasama yung product placement as the focus of the message kasi daw masarap yung product so yun yung kaiinggitan,” one user wrote.
“When you exit the airlock, take a moment to orient yourself. Things will feel strange. When you run, the wind will be at your back. You encounter fire, ice will form on your clothes as transferred heat is reversed. Gravity would feel normal but you’re reversed from the world around you. You may experience distortions in your vision and hearing, this is normal,” another user wrote.
Some fans of the tuna brand, meanwhile, were more critical. They expressed that the tuna products don’t need such commercials to sell well.
“Uniqueness doesn’t mean beautiful. Mega sardines really taste good. People will patronize mega sardines with or without this advertisement,” the user wrote.
This latest promotional material was produced by GIGIL, the same advertising agency behind the similar strange commercials of Orocan and RC Cola in 2020.
Herbert Hernandez, the agency’s co-founder and guitarist and songwriter for OPM bands Moonstar8 and 6Cyclemind, congratulated the team on Facebook following the advertisement’s success.
In an interview with Reportr, GIGIL managing partner Jake Yrastorza explained that they made these types of commercials to help the public get distracted for a bit from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Realistically, no one wants to be reminded some more of what’s happening right now. Hindi talaga masaya. Little things like this, in advertising, music, in movies, entertainment, those are the things that help us cope,” Yrastorza said.
