Two attractive bikini-clad women are poolside, one rubbing lotion on the other’s back seductively. The scene plays like it’s right out of a porn movie made on the cheap. "I don’t know why," one woman pouts, "but Todd doesn’t seem interested in me."
"But you’re so hot!" replies her friend. "You could get anyone." Suddenly, she notices a hunky man wearing a wife beater and cut off jeans in the background. "Hey, who’s that?" she asks.
"That’s the new pool boy, Raoul," the first woman tells her, then calls out in a sultry voice, "Raoul, I’m hungry! You have anything I can eat?" The other girl chimes in, "I’m hungry too."
The man, who’s got a mesh bag tied around his waist, walks over to the girls. Items within the bag cause it to dangle to his knees. "You’re in luck, ladies," he says. "I’ve got something for the both of you." We see him reach down below his waist—and take out a couple of wrapped hoagies from his bag. He hands the subs to the women, who ravenously attack the food.
"Two roast beef subs for $5.99," a voiceover pitches. The spot ends with the tagline, "Food Fet-ish. Adult fast food."
This is one of five spots—all shot in cheesy, low-budget adult film-style—for the Los Angeles eatery, Food Fetish. The campaign was directed by Craig Tanimoto of Japanese Monster, Los Angeles. Tanimoto and Mark Reichard served as creative directors/art directors/copywriters on the cli-ent-direct package.
"Our intent is to distinguish Food Fetish from run-of-the-mill fast food restaurants that cater to kids," explained Tanimoto. "They don’t sell Happy Meals or burgers in colorful wrappers at Food Fetish. It’s adult food, pasta salads, big hoagies—good, substantial food for adults."
Tanimoto went to great lengths to recreate the adult cinema aesthetic. The sets are spare with plain, nondescript furniture and tacky artwork. Grainy 16mm film and a hollow soundtrack suggest economy-class filmmaking. "Everything is shot handheld [by DP Rhet Bear] with the telltale continuity mistakes," related Tanimoto. "You can see the boom [microphone] in one spot. The titles are crooked and pop on three frames late."
Shira Boardman executive produced for Japanese Monster, with Todd Feaster serving as producer. Rick Lobo of Lux, Santa Monica, edited the commercials. Online editor was Lux’s Josh Kirschenbaum. Colorist was Brian "Crash" Carlucci of R!OT Santa Monica. Loren Silber, who was with POP Sound, Santa Monica, at the time, was the audio mixer. (Silber has since become partnered in audio post house Lime, Santa Monica.)
