Orange Man (advertisement)
| Agency | HHCL |
|---|---|
| Client | Britvic |
| Language | English |
| Running time | 40 seconds 30 seconds (edited version) |
| Product | |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Directed by | Matt Forrest |
| Starring |
|
| Production company |
Limelight |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Preceded by | Cleaning Windows |
| Followed by | Oranges! |
Orange Man is a British television advertisement for the soft drink Tango Orange. Created by advertising agency HHCL (Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury and Partners), a longtime collaborator of Tango who would go on to create many of their advertisements, the advertisement was produced in 1991 and aired in 1992, and became the first in the brand's "You Know When You've Been Tango'd" campaign that would continue until 1996 before returning for several years in the 2000s.
The advertisement features an orange man slapping a Tango drinker across the cheeks, a metaphor for tasting Tango, and was intended as a reaction against the norm of "cause and effect" television advertising at the time was largely focused on scenarios where peoples lives were improved by the product being advertised. Orange Man caused controversy after reports of injuries when children began copying the events of the advertisement in school playgrounds, and was subsequently banned, with two other versions of Orange Man replacing it, both showing different scenarios aside from slapping.
Despite the controversy, it contributed to a boost of sales by more than a third, and has gained acclaim in later years, even featuring and ranking highly in several lists of the greatest advertisements ever made. A Channel 4/The Sunday Times poll in 2000 named Orange Man the third best advertisement of all time. It has also been credited as pioneering viral marketing and guerrilla marketing. Different commentators have named it the best advertisement for Tango and the best advertisement created by HHCL. Orange Man precedes other Tango advertisements that have been banned, and has been parodied several times.
The advertisement begins with three young men standing outside a fruit shop or cornershop. One of them takes a sip out of a can of Tango he is holding. The voice-over of "commentators" Ralph and Tony (voiced by Hugh Dennis and Ray Wilkins) appear. Ralph says "oh, I think we could use a video replay here" and the footage of the man drinking the Tango is "rewound" (with the visual effect of a tape recorded being rewound on screen) to some ten seconds before he drinks the Tango, for a "replay". Then, a man painted completely orange (Peter Geeves) comes onto the scene, who runs around the men and then taps the Tango drinker on the back.
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Wikipedia