Russian TV Ad Copies WoW: Lich King Cinematic

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Russian TV Ad Copies WoW: Lich King Cinematic

A Russian TV spot for a brand of cologne may look a little familiar to anyone who has seen the intro cinematic for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Wrath-Lich-Expansion-Mac/dp/B000VJTJNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278964549&sr=1-1].


Above, we see the awesome intro movie for Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to World of Warcraft. In it, the Lich King Arthas eventually meanders his way to a bleak, icy promontory, and sweeps the snow from the ice to find something buried beneath the frozen wastes. He strikes the ice with his sword, and the powerful frost wyrm Sindragosa breaks through from her frozen prison.

Below, we see a commercial for Glacier Ice, a Russian brand of cologne made by Oriflame, starring Olympic gold medalist figure skater Evgeni Plushenko [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni_Plushenko]. In it, Plushenko is standing on a bleak, icy promontory, sweeps the snow from the ice to find something buried beneath the frozen wastes, strikes the ice with his figure skates and gaily triple-axels his way around the scene as the bottle of Glacier Ice cologne breaks through from its frozen prison.


Allow me to speak for all involved when I say, "huh?"

The similarities are immediately obvious, and it's obvious that more than one person involved with the creation of this Wrath of the Figure Skater King clip almost certainly plays WoW. On the assumption that it was a not-so-subtle little homage to the game (instead of a misguided attempt at getting WoW players to buy cologne), have they really done anything wrong? No, seriously, I actually don't know - is this in any way sketchy, or just... odd?

(IncGamers [http://egear.ru/archives/5434])

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Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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But Sindragosa is was a girl dragon and cologne is a man product.

Silly Russians.

I don't think it's sketchy. Just odd. And reaffirming of my belief that figure skating looks silly.
 

Loop Stricken

Covered in bees!
Jun 17, 2009
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Good Lord, that's quite derivative.

And yet, still the best toiletries advert I have ever seen.
 

Jaranja

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Jul 16, 2009
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Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

It's pretty hilarious, to be honest. I was expecting a copy but not that much of a copy.
 

The Lawn

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Apr 11, 2008
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First I was like: Whaaa...?
Then I was like: WTF?!?!?!

I am throughly confused by this... the fact that it looks exactly the same... minus some key differances...
Oh well... it's just cologne... not some ice scating undead dragon...
 

RanD00M

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Oct 26, 2008
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John Funk said:
gaily triple-axels
I don´t want to know how you know what a triple axel is.

OT:They look alike.The music sounds alike.Yepp,this is a homage.
 

Archemetis

Is Probably Awesome.
Aug 13, 2008
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I'm not entirely sure how to interpret what it is I just saw...
The only thought I'm able to process fully concerning the matter is that Blizzard did it so much better...

(And straight)
 

EricGossett

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Dec 29, 2009
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similar yes, a rip-off not quite. the only part that ill call a ripoff is the opening scene and when they both wipe off the snow from the ice.
 

jpakaferrari

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Nov 9, 2009
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As an lover of Russian culture and it's people I will say this 1) Anyone that thinks that was in anyway homosexual is a moron. Russians are 100% more homophobic than Americans. Yes men hug and hold hands with friends and enjoy clothes etc. but if you suggest they are gay you will get your ass beat. 2)This is pretty average for a Russian advertisements. Bring in a known celebrity have them do something dramatic that seems to have nothing to do with the product and then show the product and sell it.

I mean honestly what do most celebrities in any commercial have to do with the product?

Anyway yeah its probably a rip off, but why mess with success?
 

Nickolai77

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Apr 3, 2009
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Not sure what to make of this..... 0.o

I mean it could just be a coindidence, but the similarites are uncanny. I find it a little hard to believe however, that anyone would try to sell cologne to gamers.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Well, to be honest it also occurs to me that the Cologne thing isn't all THAT unusual on a lot of levels. I mean honestly they are using a skater to promote a product, and skaters skate on ice and such, and they need to work the product into it.

It's sort of like the recent claims that the Iron Man 2 villain poster ripped off "Prince Of Persia". Given all the similarities in other media I'm reluctant to point to a trend of advertisers deliberatly ripping off popular video games quite yet.
 

Rhade

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Jan 2, 2010
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Every time someone attempts to rip off or parody this scene they always seem to suck horribly. In this case I'd almost buy it, on it's own, except for the fact that this skater apparently finds himself at Sindragosa's Fall.

I mean, it's really, obscenely blatant how much the mountain range it's depicted on is copy-pasted, it's just a bit brighter with a few stones removed is about all. That and the style in which the ice cracks and...nevermind.

Copy-pasting without shame, and not even for a good reason. Go Ruskie cosmetics company. Now show us the additional scene in which the bottle jumps out, off the cliff and rolls its way through a sea of other health and beauty products while a voice tells our skater that some day he will become king. Of advertising sponsorship, rather.
 

randommaster

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Sep 10, 2008
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The only thing that really lets the Russian commercial skate by is the fact that it features a figure skater and would still look silly even if WotLK didn't exist.

this thread is lacking Soviet Russia jokes, so I will remedy that.

In soviet Russia, ice skates on you.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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jpakaferrari said:
As an lover of Russian culture and it's people I will say this 1) Anyone that thinks that was in anyway homosexual is a moron. Russians are 100% more homophobic than Americans. Yes men hug and hold hands with friends and enjoy clothes etc. but if you suggest they are gay you will get your ass beat. 2)This is pretty average for a Russian advertisements. Bring in a known celebrity have them do something dramatic that seems to have nothing to do with the product and then show the product and sell it.

I mean honestly what do most celebrities in any commercial have to do with the product?

Anyway yeah its probably a rip off, but why mess with success?
If you're referring to 'gaily triple-axels,' I was actually using that in the original sense of "happy and gay," bro.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

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Aug 11, 2009
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... What did I just watch? That was equal parts hilarious and utterly baffling. I wonder if the suit who approved that commercial knew that it was spoofing WoW, or if that was just something the advertising firm did for their own amusement without mentioning their 'inspiration'.

Either way, it earns a hearty WTF!! from me.
 

Stilt-Man

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Dec 31, 2009
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For April Fools, Blizzard should do a parody of this parody, with the Lich King skating around the cologne bottle.