A Hungry Tongue Narrates These Freaky Condiment Ads
If you like your mayonnaise commercials slathered in silly surrealism, open wide.
A fanatical, flavor-starved tongue voiced by actor Darin De Paul narrates VML's scenarios for Unilever brand Sir Kensington's.
And that slimy thing really says a mouthful in deep, bass tones, demanding obedience and tastier meals RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT!
"Many Tuesdays pass.
The tacos remain unchanged.
Tongue grows restless.
...Tongue demands flavor anew.
A chili lime twist.
Open your mind to new.
Or Tongue will find new mouth.
Obey Tongue!"
Oh, cut it out already!
"In terms of the voice and tone, there really wasn't any initial reference driving its creation," VML creative director Dana Stalker tells Muse. "It came out of my head as this authoritative, monotone voice—an id-like character—delivering absurdity in a serious way."
It's like a galactic entity from Star Trek TOS, a ravenous Gorn living inside your mouth. The visuals play like a food-centric riff on Terry Gilliam's dystopian classic Brazil.
Oh, go lick a postage stamp! (Do they even make that kind anymore?)
Director Jesse James McElroy shot the tongue POV bits using a hand-operated rig with a puppet-mouth attached to his camera.
"The puppet for the floating, disassembled sandwich was made of monofilament fishing line and plexiglass plates for each ingredient to sit on," Stalker says.
Fishing line controlled the folding taco, and a real conveyor belt came into play during the endless-snacks scene.
"Our actors ate A LOT of dry tacos!" she recalls.
The work breaks today across Meta, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms, with OOH set for the summer:
