"Hey Kid, Catch!" is a television advertisement for Coca-Cola starring Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle "Mean" Joe Greene, which debuted on October 1, 1979, and was aired again several times, most notably during Super Bowl XIV in 1980. The 60-second commercial won a Clio Award for being one of the best television commercials of 1979.
Officially titled "Mean Joe Greene" by McCann Erickson, the advertising agency that created the commercial (which was part of the "Have a Coke and a Smile" ad campaign), the set-up and payoff is classic simple advertising: Following a football game, a child (Tommy Okon) offers an injured Greene a Coke, prompting "Mean" Joe to grab the bottle and guzzle the entire contents, before turning to limp away. He then turns back toward the now-crestfallen child, smiles and tosses the kid his team jersey with the now-famous line, "Hey kid, catch!". The commercial was listed as one of the top ten commercials of all time by multiple sources, including TV Guide magazine. The ad was also shown in many other countries (including the UK), where Greene was not even well known.
The campaign's art director was Roger Mosconi, the writer was Penny Hawkey, and the singers of the "Coke and a Smile" jingle were Jim Campbell, Don Thomas, Liz Corrigan, Shellie Littman, Arlene Martell, and Linda November. The footage was shot in May 1979 at a small stadium in Mount Vernon, New York, and the commercial was released on October 1, 1979, on ABC's Monday Night Football, though its airing during the 1980 Super Bowl brought it the most attention due to the program's enormous audience.
Greene later recalled that in filming the commercial, it took several takes to get his final line in the commercial in without burping. "Between me belching and going to the men's room, it took three days to film it," Greene recalled.
Video Hey Kid, Catch!
Parodies and homages
- During Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, Coca-Cola aired a parody to the ad to promote its Coca-Cola Zero brand, starring former Steelers player Troy Polamalu in Greene's role. Continuing an ongoing theme in promotion for the beverage, the ad is interrupted by Coca-Cola "brand managers" who accuse Polamalu of "stealing" their commercial, prompting the safety to tackle one of them and give the child their shirt.
- In 2011, an episode of SportsNation on ESPN2 briefly parodied this commercial which featured sportscaster Michelle Beadle in Greene's role. In the commercial, after finishing the soda, instead of the jersey, she "accidentally" throws the empty soda bottle back to the child as it breaks on the wall at the end and then apologizes after that "mishap". In addition, the commercial try to look like the late 70s/early 80s font titles with the words "Facebook.com/SportsNation" and "Have Some "SportsNation" and a smile" and "Sports is Life".
- An advertisement for the Fox television drama series House, first aired during Super Bowl XLV, parodies the original commercial with a similar scene in which Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, throws his cane to a young fan played by Preston Bailey.
- In 2012, Greene reprised his role in a Downy Unstopables ad for Super Bowl XLVI entitled "Stinky", where Amy Sedaris rejects Greene's jersey because it smelled.
0 Comments