HEAPS OF BURGERS HEEEEAPS OF BURGERS AND THEN THE MONKEYS AND BANANAS

September 16, 2013 6:21 PM

"A perfect little stoner play put on by three adorable children."

NZ anti-drug-driving PSA by Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi. Previously: Bro you know I can't grab your ghost chip.

posted by Sebmojo (27 comments total)

I know it's horrible, but that commercial makes me want to be a stoner. Everything looks so interesting! That bloke looks like me! Bring back some of the wonder in life.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:47 PM on September 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

They had one where this "bloke" smokes a joint at a party and then his girlfriend wants to leave, so they drive off. After a while she says, you're too high to drive, stop the car and we'll switch. So he does, opens the door, gets out, and BOOM - he stepped right into traffic! That sent a mixed message - would it not have been better to keep driving?

Here, we have none of that. Just a good solid message that you are a dumbfuck, you are letting down your kids, and you are sending them a message that it is normal to get behind the wheel reeking like a roadie for The Black Crowes.
posted by thelonius at 6:58 PM on September 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

When I was a kid, say up until I was twelve, few things were more hilarious than a drunk. The funny kind, that is, like Jack Lemmon's Crown Prince Frederick in the Great Race. Then I hit early teendom just as Cheech + Chong hit the scene. Thus, stoners became at least as hilarious as drunks.

I don't know what my point is here other than:

A. funny as hell ad
B. not sure it's going to stop anybody from driving a little high
posted by philip-random at 7:02 PM on September 16, 2013

Drunk driving used to be considered vaguely hilarious, at least on TV. Aw, there goes ol' Bill again - wonder what he'll hit this time?
posted by thelonius at 7:04 PM on September 16, 2013

I've known a lot of stoners in my lifetime. Their reactions always seemed spot on. Hours of kicking my drunk ass in Crash Bandicoot quickly established which of us should be driving (hint: not me).
posted by cjorgensen at 7:07 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Well, sure, but.....I was rolling down the Interstate with a friend once, and he fished around in the back, found his bong, and started steering with his knees while loading it up and lighting it. This proved difficult, so he wanted me to take the wheel. I don't steer a car at 70 mph from the passenger seat, so I said no.

Don't do that.
posted by thelonius at 7:16 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I found this to be pretty accurate except the parts where they implied the driver was going over 10 mph.

When I was a kid, say up until I was twelve, few things were more hilarious than a drunk.

When I was little, being allowed to stay up late to watch the Dean Martin Roasts was a special treat, and there was almost nothing funnier to me than pretend-drunk comic Foster Brooks. (Probably because I didn't get any of the actual jokes!)
posted by Room 641-A at 7:45 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Spotted this on the teev coupla nights ago, eh bro. Taika's our national treasure, dun heeepsa stuff with kids, like, uh, 2 cars 1 night, Boy and a few steinie ads. Choice as.


And yes, the kids round here do really talk like that, as a result of the pakeha/maori/pacifica melange that is Noozuld. The ghost chips ad is now embedded in our culture, although it's success as an anti drink-drive message is yet to be measured.
posted by arzakh at 8:09 PM on September 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

that commercial makes me want to be a stoner. Everything looks so interesting! That bloke looks like me! Bring back some of the wonder in life.

That's what's so interesting about this approach. It's not morally proselytizing on weed, just that maybe you shouldn't be driving because you're compromised mentally. It's almost saying "look, getting stoned is fun, but find someone else to drive." And there's no arguing against that -- your reactions are worse while operating a 1+ ton machine at rather high speeds.
posted by spiderskull at 8:15 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Heh. Very topical! My wife and I had just been re-watching the "ghost chups" ad and reciting the whole thing to each other through the day, laughing. It is a lovely thing.

Played it for some friends, and just *crickets*.

Monique thinks you're dumb.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 8:32 PM on September 16, 2013

Ok, that slayed me. And that patois is super easy on the ears. Very nice.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 8:41 PM on September 16, 2013

No ones patwa around hair bro.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 8:48 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's really interesting how culture shifts in not that many years.

Back in the late 90's it was fairly acceptable in my social circle to drive a little stoned and I knew a hell of a lot of people who did so. It was in no way acceptable to drive drunk though.

Move on fifteen years and none of those people still think it acceptable to drive stoned. Some of that is just that we've got older but I reckon another part of it is that there's been a cultural shift in that time as well. Doesn't take long.
posted by deadwax at 9:08 PM on September 16, 2013

Oh man that was great. I saw Taika Waititi's film Boy earlier this year and loved it. Trailer here. I highly recommend it if you liked this. The whole movie was charming as hell and features at least one if not more of those kids in the PSA. I love the NZ accent too and it's heavenly for that alone.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:52 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Noozuld just means New Zealand? Don't worry though, you're not the only one. Between this post and the Robocop is bleeding metatalk I thought I might be having a stroke.
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 9:54 PM on September 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

The PSA also features Temuera Morrison who featured in the New Zealand's second greatest film, Once Were Warriors. [I would argue Boy is the best ever New Zealand film.]
posted by vac2003 at 9:59 PM on September 16, 2013

This ad's kind of like being high because I just want to smoke weed and hang around while these rad kids make fun of their dads and have awesome accents all the time.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 10:25 PM on September 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

Back in the late 90's it was fairly acceptable in my social circle to drive a little stoned...

If I had any memory of those days I could tell you what the term we used for that was.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:49 AM on September 17, 2013

vac2003: "The PSA also features Temuera Morrison who featured in the New Zealand's second greatest film, Once Were Warriors."

Plus, he's Boba Fett's dad. Can't get cooler than that.
posted by capricorn at 5:07 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

Is everything in NZ just totally good-natured? This ad, the "ghost chips" ad, those Flying Conchords guys, the two coders I work with who happily get themselves up at ungodly early hours so we can have conference calls, that one eurailing linguist I tagged along with for a couple of weeks two decades ago who pronounced the word "no" with like eight vowels in it and "yes" with none at all -- basically every interaction I've ever had with anyone or anything from NZ has been super chill and relaxing and open and friendly and pretty much entirely unlike what I'm used to.

Here in the US these ads would be all fistfights and rage and blood on the windshield, over there it's puzzle time! and heaps of burgers!

Seriously guys are you accepting applications?
posted by ook at 6:05 AM on September 17, 2013 [10 favorites]

You're watching the America's Cup right?
posted by Samuel Farrow at 6:15 AM on September 17, 2013

Between this post and the Robocop is bleeding metatalk I thought I might be having a stroke.

Oh man, that must have been terrifying! did you take the medicine drug?
posted by Naberius at 6:28 AM on September 17, 2013 [3 favorites]

Is everything in NZ just totally good-natured?

Pretty much.

We send all the bad buggers to the other side of the Pacific, and the workaholics over the Tasman.
posted by arzakh at 6:34 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Just...don't watch Once Were Warriors if you want to think we're a good-natured bunch. That is a soul-destroying movie. Bloody brilliant, but soul-destroying.

Likewise while Boy is a very cute movie in its way, I found that really depressing too. Maybe it was a little too real, growing up in the deep dark rural south of NZ. We don't sound like that down there, btw. More of a Scots sound in the south.
posted by tracicle at 10:52 AM on September 17, 2013

Seriously guys are you accepting applications?

ook, Check out Immigration New Zealand's web-site, especially the essential skills section. If you work in IT, there is a good chance your skills would be on the list. Come on down!
posted by vac2003 at 12:44 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

while Boy is a very cute movie in its way, I found that really depressing too. Maybe it was a little too real, growing up in the deep dark rural south of NZ.

I agree, for all its charm it is a pretty realistic movie (though filtered through the viewpoint of a child, so in many ways naive) and thus depressing in parts. I think that's what I liked about it. It didn't sugarcoat the dysfunction that's present but it wasn't all tragedy all the time, you know? It reminded me a lot of the Aboriginal (Native) Canadian communities near where I live--the people I know from these communities share a very culturally specific sense of humour that is quite similar in the way it mixes the warm and lighthearted with the heartbreaking. It's an approach I find very appealing.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:18 PM on September 17, 2013

That blazed ad was amazing. A 2m21s short film.

They also have an ad with shopkeepers places like takeaway/fast food stores talking, which was a different level, but also good - really gets the message out.
Shop keepers

And yeah, none of it is, omg drugs iz baad, mmmkay?, but just a, don't drive drugged, duh?
posted by Elysum at 4:41 AM on October 14, 2013