Godzilla Dr. Pepper Ad (35mm Theatrical Version, 1985)

 

A small metal film can arrived in the mail this week, about 4 inches in diameter.  Inside was a short roll of 35mm film!

This is a print of the theatrical version of the famous Dr. Pepper Godzilla commercial! We have covered many, many items on this blog that were included in the massive Dr. Pepper tie-in campaign for the release of GODZILLA 1985.  It was an extensive (reportedly $10 million) advertising campaign that seemed to be everywhere for a short time.

    

The commercial is fondly remembered by fans, and goes back to a time where fun tributes that were free of politics were possible to produce and be enjoyed.  However, most people don't know that there are actually two different commercials, and four versions total!  However, as reading about fun commercials is like dancing about architecture, it would be criminal of us not to show you the actual ads....so let's dig in!

The first ad actually predates the release of GODZILLA 1985, and is 30 seconds long and was shown copiously on television.  This ad was graciously posted to YouTube by the colorfully-named "assmanbbq."

Like many TV commercials with a big budget, there was a one-minute version of the ad as well, which we will return to shortly.  This recording was uploaded to YouTube by a user named "ThreeOranges," 16 years ago!

The commercial was, of course, hugely successful, and a sequel was released, this time in color, to promote Diet Dr. Pepper, with a female monster showing up! Kudos again to "assmanbbq" for keeping this classic alive.

Which brings us back to the 35mm version, which for once I am SUPER-fortunate to not have to pay to convert, because a kind soul called "FT Depot" has already done it for us on YouTube, in HD no less! This version was shown in movie theaters where GODZILLA 1985 played, which accounts for the different aspect ratio (there is slightly more information on both sides of the frame, and at the bottom as well; the television version looks a little squished to me, now that I compare the two).  This version is slightly longer, as well, because it included several seconds of an end card reading "HOLD OUT," which was one of their slogans at the time.

Thanks to the many fans who have preserved these commercials over the years.  It would be incredible to finally have a proper DVD/Blu-Ray of GODZILLA 1985, which of course would have to include this ad (and "Bambi vs. Godzilla" as well for completeness), but alas, that's something that's also left up to the fans, who luckily are up to the task.