Aaron Burr (advertisement)
| Agency | Goodby, Silverstein & Partners |
|---|---|
| Client | California Milk Processor Board |
| Language | English |
| Running time | 1:00 |
| Product |
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| Release date(s) | October 29, 1993 |
| Directed by | Michael Bay |
| Starring | |
| Country | United States |
"Aaron Burr" is a television advertisement created in 1993. It was the first commercial in the Got Milk? advertising campaign.
Created by advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the ad takes place in a private museum filled with many artifacts revolving around the Burr–Hamilton duel. It is owned by a hapless history buff (portrayed by Sean Whalen), who is first shown spreading peanut butter over a piece of bread. He is listening to a classical radio station, which then halts to a radio announcer (voiced by Rob Paulsen) who then announces they will make a "random call" to a person to see if they can answer the question, "Who shot Hamilton in that famous duel?", making the man, while eating a curled bread slice, knowingly look around in his museum. His phone then rings, and he interrupts the radio announcer mid-sentence, answering the question correctly by saying "Aaron Burr". However, because of the peanut butter sandwich in his mouth, his answer is unintelligible. The man then tries to wash the sandwich down with some milk, but as he goes to pour a glass, he is mortified to discover the milk carton only has a drop left. He only has a few seconds left and tries to say the answer again and again, but as the announcer cannot hear him correctly, he hangs up. The ad ends with the history buff staring sadly at his phone, whispering "Aaron Burr...", as we fade out and the words "got milk?" appear.
The ad helped increase sales of fluid milk, totaling 23.3 billion pounds from 1994 to 1995. In 2002, the ad was named one of the ten best commercials of all time by a USA Today poll, and ran again nationwide the same year. It also appeared on the Reader's Digest VHS compilation Laugh? I Thought I'd Die!.
The commercial's premise was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Jaws Wired Shut", where character Homer Simpson knows the answer to a trivia question that would win him free beer for life, but, because his jaws are wired shut, he is unable to vocally give the answer and doesn't win the prize as a result.
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