Slob Evolution
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[edit] Slob Evolution
Slob Evolution is an Emmy Award-nominated short film created as a parody of the original Evolution spot in late 2006. The piece was directed by Simon Willows and, known for his work on the Volvic (mineral water)|Volvic mineral water television and cinema commercials, and was produced by Claire Jones with the production company Blink Productions. Post-production work was done by Framestore CFC.
In Slob Evolution, the role of the model is taken by a teenage boy (Matt Craigie) who, instead of having make-up applied in the time-lapse sequence, is given fast food, alcoholic beverages, and cigarettes, transforming over the course of thirty seconds into an overweight middle-aged slob. Further adjustments are made in a similar image-editing interface used in Evolution, with the subject's neck shortened, features made more asymmetric, and a tattoo added. The image is transferred to a billboard advertisement for the fictional Lardo brand of "man cream", before fading to the statement, "Thank God our perception of reality is distorted. No one wants to look at ugly people." The web address to which the parody directed people who saw it was "www.campaignagainstreallife.com".
Blink Productions described their reasons for creating the parody as "firstly to promote the presence of Blink Productions, a traditional commercials production company, to the online community. Secondly, to prove that a relevant and great piece of content needs no money spent on seeding. Proving itself to be a true 'viral.'"[1] The parody was uploaded to video-sharing website YouTube on December 4, 2006 and was promoted only through a seeding of 30 e-mails.[2] It has since had over 3 million hits.[3]
The parody went on to be nominated for a number of prestigious awards, including the "Comedy: Short Form" and "Viral" categories of the 2007 Webby Awards,[4] and in the "Outstanding Broadband Comedy" category of the 2007 Daytime Emmy Awards.[5] The popular and critical attention that Blink Productions received for Slob Evolution led to Tiger Aspect, the production company behind the 2007 BBC comedy sketch show Ruddy Hell! It's Harry And Paul, contacting the production company to produce an introduction to the show in a similar vein.
