A recent viral phenomenon features an ad campaign that challenged George Lucas to repurpose Star Wars footage to promote beer.
In the year In 2003, she was in Chile, enjoying the first Star Wars trilogy on television, and suddenly a beer appeared in the middle of the scene. No, it’s not a fan-made version of a scene drunk from shared memories or a night of love for Saga and Hope. This unique blend of cinema and advertising has come back from oblivion to become the viral phenomenon of the moment.
The strategy behind this bold advertising campaign involves the collaboration between Cerveza Cristal ads and key moments of popular films, without credit to Lucasfilm, the guardian of the saga. This unusual mashup not only captured the imagination of Chilean audiences two decades ago, but now, thanks to the magic of the Internet, it has become a viral phenomenon, capturing a global audience with many fans and artists recreating the ad elsewhere. Movies and shows.
A marketing strategy from another galaxy
The idea was simple but revolutionary: insert beer advertising directly into movies, avoiding traditional commercial interruptions. So, you can see Luke Skywalker pulling out a can of beer instead of the lightsaber or Emperor Palpatine getting a refreshing drink in the middle of the final battle. These editions not only violated standard advertising rules, but also called into question the sacred integrity of the earlier trilogy.
The Impact OMD Santiago agency won the top prize in the media category at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. His success: persuading Chilean television networks to sneak Crystal Beer into a series of important films, breaking all the rules of product classification known to date.
Despite the genius behind this campaign, Lucasfilm doesn’t share its enthusiasm. The company argued that such an advertising tactic not only violated Chile’s Advertising Code of Conduct, but also led one to believe there was an official relationship between the film franchise and Cerveza Cristal.
Legacy of a special campaign
Years later, the debate about advertising limits and the validity of original content continues. This episode, beyond being a curious story, raises questions about innovation in marketing, intellectual property protection, and the impact of advertising on the perception of famous works.
Meanwhile, on social media, fans enthusiastically embraced this unique advertising integration into their favorite movies, proving once again that in the digital age, viral content can emerge in the most unexpected combinations. This is one of the most notable contradictions between a cult saga and an advertising campaign, showing that advertising and cinema can coexist in ways no one could ever imagine.
In this strange interplay between cinema and advertising, a new chapter opens in the history of how brands seek to connect with their audiences, showing that creativity knows no bounds and can sometimes go beyond the screen to become a global topic of conversation. Will this be the beginning of a new era in advertising? Only time will tell, but for now, the power of beer is strong with this virus.