Uncle Gets Cheeky With Fruit of the Loom

June 16, 2005 -- UNCLE director Wayne Holloway has proven that you can’t over love your underwear in his latest effort for Fruit of the Loom via ad agency The Richards Group, Dallas, TX. Two of the national spots, “You Can’t Over Love Your Underwear” and “Fashion Channel” break today, with a third spot slated to air later this year.

UNCLE worked closely with the Richards Group to expand a component of their original spot concept into a full-blown :60 second country music video parody that is the cornerstone of the campaign.

In the country music video spoof “You Can’t Over Love Your Underwear,” a boy gazes out the window as his father runs inside on a rainy afternoon. A melodramatic country track accompanies the scene: “Daddy wears his T-shirt in the cold Kentucky rain, while a boy in pure white briefs looks out the window pane.” Scenes inspired by country music videos are interspersed with moody close-ups of the singer whom a wider camera angle reveals to be the Fruit of the Loom apple. The rest of the Fruit Guys crew—men in grape and raisin get-ups, play the back-up band. Country star Collin Raye, who has scored over 15 number one hits on the country music charts, good-humoredly lent his rich tenor to the title track.

In “Fruit Fashion Network”, the Fruit Guys are executives of a fictitious TV network casually conversing in the editing room about the different programs they’ve conjured up to promote Fruit of the Loom women’s lines. Their misplaced, but well-meaning concepts are hilarious--one Grape mentions that his favorite in the new line-up is “Fashion Island,” a Survivor-type reality series in which a different beauty is eliminated in her Fruit of the Loom skivvies every week. Another program, “The Wheel of Fashion,” has the game show set falling apart as an excitable contestant spins the wheel. The commercial closes with the camera fading into the Fruit of the Loom logo as the Fruit Guys continue to chat about other programs in development, including a weekly business report and donkey race.

A third spot in the campaign also directed by Holloway and starring the Fruit Guys breaks later this year.

“If you put a real person inside a silly suit, and direct them as a real person, the suit disappears and the genuine warmth and humor of the Fruit Guys comes shining through,” said Holloway, “Everyone contributed to make this campaign the best possible without egos getting into the way, which is how I like to work. Plus, the agency and client were great fun, which is always a pleasant bonus on a job, because hey—you only get one life and your job is a big part of it.”

“These spots work on so many levels. It’s quite challenging to promote underwear in a clever way without being too provocative.” commented Bryan Farhy, Executive Producer, UNCLE.

Production Credits:
Production Company: UNCLE-Santa Monica, CA
Director: Wayne Holloway
Executive Producers: Bryan Farhy & Eric Bonniot
Producer: Stephanie Bedell
Director of Photography: Ramsey Nickell

Agency: The Richards Group
Creative Group Head/ Writer: Ron Henderson
Creative Group Head/ Art Director: Dennis Walker
Brand Creative/ Writer: Mike Bales
Brand Creative/ Art Director: Doug Eyring
Broadcast Producer: Sheri Cartwright

Telecine Artist: Beau Leon-The Syndicate

Editor: Jack Waldrip
Effects: WestFX