00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most awkward, offensive,
00:08and just plain bizarre TV ads from other countries.
00:15Number 10. Leo in an Italian Meadow. This commercial seems like it's trying way too
00:20hard to be deep. We see Leonardo DiCaprio relaxing in a beautiful meadow alongside an
00:25impressive variety of bugs. The lighting is soft, the music is serene, even the praying mantis looks
00:31chill. Suddenly, Leo is interrupted by an email on his Palm Pilot. He checks the message, then tosses
00:37the device aside, annoyed. For those who don't speak Italian, the ending text reads,
00:42Technology is important, but so is the rest. Weirdly, this is a commercial for a telecom
00:47company. That makes it extra strange that they're implying that having good mobile service will
00:52irritate customers when they're communing with nature. Number 9. Ben Stiller giving less than
00:57100%. It's pretty common for American celebrities to shoot commercials for overseas markets,
01:02where most of their fans at home will never see them. And you can hardly blame them for putting
01:12in less than their best effort at these gigs. That's certainly the case with Ben Stiller in
01:16this Japanese commercial for a canned cocktail brand. Everything in this ad is high energy and
01:22frenetic, from the editing to the music to the very obviously dubbed voice. Except Stiller, he's just
01:28not on the same wavelength as everyone around him. The Ben Stiller we know always gives 110% in his
01:33acting roles, which is why it's so weird to see him phoning it in here. Number 8. Japan's Wild West.
01:40We never thought we'd say this, but Ben Stiller could take a lesson from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
01:46These Japanese energy drink commercials might be incredibly bizarre, but the action hero is
01:52certainly giving it his all. The first features a liquid Schwarzenegger popping out of a woman's head
01:57and screaming into the camera, and it's set in the Old West for some reason.
02:05In the second, the two are strapped to floating bees, a reference to the drink's name, Alina Min V,
02:11until they link up and gain some kind of superpower? We have to assume it makes at least a
02:16little more sense if you know what they're saying, but at least Schwarzenegger gets to say
02:19his own lines. Number 7. Man turns into toothpaste. You know those commercials that are weird just
02:25for the sake of being weird? There's plenty of them on American TV, and apparently, they're
02:30a thing in Thailand, too.
02:35In this surreal ad, a man tries to do a good deed, but a little girl's racist mother snatches
02:40her daughter away before he can complete it. He goes home, dejected, and we see that this
02:45has happened before. It seems like Thai kids just can't hold on to their balloons. Then, the man lays
02:54down on his bed, which is a toothbrush, and turns into toothpaste.
02:58In case you're wondering why it's brown, it's because it's an herbal brand. We're wondering how the
03:05marketers possibly came up with this idea.
03:07Number 6. Volkswagen's Major Misfire. There's a lot to unpack here. Volkswagen was founded by Nazis,
03:14so it's on a short leash when it comes to PR failures. Although this is a German ad, it's set in Argentina,
03:20which became a haven for Nazi war criminals after World War II. A white woman's hand flicks a dark-skinned
03:25man away from VW Golf. It pushes him into a restaurant called Petit Kolen, which translates
03:31to Little Colonist. When the words Der Neue Golf fade in, the first letters that appear spell out a
03:37German slur for black people. One of these things alone wouldn't necessarily be suspicious, but put
03:42together, it's hard to imagine Volkswagen didn't see the problem. The company claimed audiences just
03:47misunderstood the ad. Number 5. Nicolas Cage for Senkyo. Nick Cage and weird Japanese
03:53commercials go together like peanut butter and jelly. That's probably why he made five of them.
04:07Here, he's promoting Senkyo, a company that manufactures super popular pachinko machines,
04:12which is sort of a cross between pinball and a slot machine. There's no through line across this ad
04:17series. He's singing a song, talking to the media, driving through the desert, where, of course,
04:22he runs into aliens who look like pachinko balls.
04:24But in each of them, he's 100% Nicolas Cage. And you might have noticed that his voice isn't dubbed
04:31into Japanese. We have to assume that's because there's no other actor in the world that could handle the
04:36pressure of playing Nick Cage. Number 4. Literal Whitewashing. File this one under...
04:48What were they thinking? In this Chinese detergent ad, a woman is doing laundry when her black boyfriend
04:53comes in with paint on his face. She shoves a soap pod into his mouth and forces him into the washing machine.
05:01And when he emerges, he has miraculously become a light-skinned Chinese man.
05:08There's an ugly history of ads in the US and probably other countries that imply that dark skin is dirty
05:15and can be washed clean with soap. We can't really fault Chinese marketers for not knowing about that.
05:20However, the fact that the pale Asian man is clearly framed as an improvement over the dark-skinned boyfriend
05:25is super racist. The official version released by the cosmetics company has since been removed,
05:31but copies continue circulating online of what some have called, quote,
05:36the most racist ad in the world.
05:38Number 3. The Kalbi Dog. These commercials are weird, but they're also kind of hilarious.
05:44And you have to admit, that jingle is catchy. This creepy dog man tries all kinds of tricks to cheer up these depressed kids,
05:50but nothing works, until he gets them Kalbi snacks. The brand makes crispy fries, potato chips, and other similar products.
05:57In the last commercial, the tables are turned. The little boy is broken-hearted, but he doesn't need chips.
06:03He feels better after talking to a new girl. Now, the dog man needs Kalbi chips to cheer up.
06:08The new flavor they're advertising is consomme punch, though many English-speaking internet commentators
06:13have misinterpreted Ponchi as being the dog's name. Believe it or not, you still haven't seen the last of Japan on our list.
06:20Number 2. Banana Man. You wouldn't think that having bananas for body parts would be a good thing, but this guy is clearly winning at life.
06:28Kids love him, women want him, he's crushing it at work, and he can even fly, sort of.
06:33The series starts with his origin story, where he sprouts bananas from his head while eating one in a restaurant.
06:38Then, he gallivants around town, spreading joy and bananas everywhere he goes.
06:43Somehow, watching him shoot bananas out of his nose doesn't make us crave them, but that tiny banana mustache is pretty snazzy.
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07:05Number 1. Chinese Food.
07:08This German commercial from 1988 is somehow an even more unhinged version of the Chinese laundry detergent ad.
07:14This family sits down to enjoy some delicious prepackaged Chinese food from the brand MaggiFix.
07:20And it tastes so authentic that they TURN Chinese, instead of freaking out.
07:25Like the banana man? They just roll with it. In fact, they actually seem delighted.
07:29I don't think we need to point out why this is so problematic.
07:32It doesn't help that the man is sporting an especially stereotypical haircut and glasses.
07:37The microscopic cookbook that the spokesperson plugs at the end is the perfect surreal finishing touch.
07:42Which of these foreign commercials did you think was too weird to be real?
07:45Let us know in the comments below.
07:47Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday comes again.
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