Orville Redenbacher comes back from the dead to pimp popcorn

The other night Matt and I were watching CSI: Original Recipe and while TIVO fowarding we caught a glimpse of Orville Redenbacher holding an iPod. We looked at each other. "WTF! Orville is dead!" Of course we had to stop, rewind, and watch the commercial. I'm telling you this thing was creepy on many levels.

Some kind of state-of-the-art technology was used in bringing Orville back from the grave. Now, you all know I'm all for technology, but in this case, the use of the technology to bring back a dead guy to sell product just made the popcorn less appetizing. Orville's grandson thought the ad was cool and said,

"Grandpa would go for it. He was a cutting-edge guy," grandson Gary told USA Today. "This is a way to honor his legacy."

This "back from the living dead" ad is the highest amount of money ConAgra Foods, who owns the Orville brand, has ever spent on an ad. I'm all for honoring a great man, but why not just re-run his real ads instead of trying to make digi-robo versions. Vintage is cool and real beauty.

[Advertising Age]