The fast-paced world of express mail leaves little margin for error. In BBDO New York’s latest Federal Express spot entitled "Action Figures," directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man, we see what happens when a shipping mistake leads to a cross-dressing fiasco.
The :45 opens to what looks like a toy commercial seen on Saturday morning television. In quick-cut sequences, two young boys enthusiastically play with "Combat Rangers." They plunge the G.I. Joe-like figures into mud, drop them out of a helicopter with parachutes and corral the plastic warriors into a Jeep as they prepare for combat. It looks like a typical toy commercial—except all the action figures are dressed in women’s clothing. Tiaras, a wedding dress and muumuus adorn the hunky men; pink pocketbooks and hair dryers are used as weaponry. As the macho announcer intones "Combat Rangers! They’re lean, mean, fighting machines," we see one Ranger clock another over the head with a purse.
The final scene cuts to two businessmen in a high-rise corner office screening the commercial for the Combat Rangers client. The confused client asks, "Now, tell me why they’re wearing dresses?" A nervous man quickly replies, "That’s because the commander uniforms didn’t arrive from China on time." The two men presenting the commercial begin to squabble over whose fault it is while the voiceover states: "FedEx: the only U.S. express shipper with direct routes from China. FedEx, be absolutely sure." Right before the spot fades out, there is a product shot of the Combat Rangers as the announcer concludes, "Matching handbag, heels, and night vision tiara sold separately."
"Action Figures," which debuted during the Liberty Bowl college football game on Dec. 31, ’99, is a continuation of a FedEx campaign that humorously illustrates the pitfalls of using that other shipping company. In this case, FedEx wanted to highlight its direct route from China, so BBDO New York senior creative director/art director Ted Shaine and senior creative director/copywriter Tom Darbyshire put their heads together to come up with the most interesting shipping mistake. "We thought it’d be really funny if G.I. Joe dolls were shipped Barbie dresses; since a lot of those things are manufactured overseas and we were making a key point about China, this seemed to be perfect," said Shaine.
The agency tapped director Buckley to give the spot the right comedic tone. Like most Buckley-directed spots, the humor in "Action Figures" was in the details. "One of the biggest challenges was that once you got the initial clothing gag out of the way, you had to find other comedic points beyond wardrobe jokes," said Buckley.
Buckley worked with modelmaker George Apostol of Selden, N.Y.-based Media Models to create six bodies and five different heads that bore a tough-guy look, but that also had a subtle smirk in facial expression. According to Apostol, constructing the models was a process that took close to a month from the initial sketches to completion. Apostol also built the Jeep and the helicopter that appear in the commercial.
While the dolls were being configured, New York-based costume designer Liz McGarrity designed an extensive array of miniature women’s clothing, as well as pocketbooks, shoes and jewelry. The wardrobe was then crafted by hand at Martin Izquierdo Studios, New York. "It was extraordinarily expensive to have everything custom-made, but the Barbie stuff is trademarked. You can’t touch it and you can’t necessarily fit it over a man’s chest either," said Buckley.
Shaine, Darbyshire and Buckley watched an inordinate number of action figure commercials to research the style, pacing and set design typical of the genre. According to Buckley, the sets, which included a jungle scene, a Normandy Beach scene, and a Desert Storm setting, wound up being far more elaborate than what would be characteristic of a toy spot. "If I was shooting this as a real toy commercial, I would have never worked again, just based on budget alone," Buckley laughed.
Though the spot featured two extremely zealous boys playing with the he-she dolls, Hungry Man producer Kevin Byrne suggested that adult hand models be used for scenes that had to be shot in one take. For instance, the doll wearing the wedding gown is plunged into the mud, which meant that Buckley had to get the shot in one take, or else the dress would be ruined.
"I think the absolute point of absurdity hit me when I saw these dolls storming a beach with shells going off … [we added] these little, pink Louis Vuitton-type suitcases and I said to myself, ‘This is ridiculous,’" mused Shaine.
Buckley shot as many scenes as he could to exhaust the comedic possibilities. Set to stock music, the spot was edited by Clayton Hemmert of Crew Cuts Film & Tape, New York, who selected the most humorous shots and set the timing and sequence of the action figures in post. "There really is a pacing and an art to [toy] spots that makes something that is really boring look exciting," Buckley said.
