The funny similarity between Erik Jones' new commercial and one from 10 years ago
If you’ve watched any Cup Series racing so far in 2017, you’ve probably seen Cup Series rookie Erik Jones recommending an upgrade in a 5-Hour Energy commercial.
It’s the first TV ad the company did with its new driver and it’s also Jones’ first starring role in a commercial. He told Yahoo Sports last week that a 30-second commercial takes a bit more than 30 seconds to film.
“It was different,” Jones said. “It was an all-day thing. We started at like 7 in the morning and we didn’t get done until 5:30 at night. It was a long day.
“I’ve done some filming stuff before so I know that we do about 20 takes to get the one shot, but it’s crazy to think that it’s one 30 to 45-second commercial and it took us 10-11 hours. And then they stayed there after — I left, my part was done — they still had more pieces to film.”
5-Hour previously sponsored Clint Bowyer at both Michael Waltrip Racing and HScott Racing. But with Bowyer’s move to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017 and Monster Energy’s presence on teammate Kurt Busch’s car, the company agreed to sponsor the 20-year-old Toyota driver, who signed to drive a second car for Furniture Row Racing in 2017.
But back to the commercial. If you were wondering if you had seen the “upgrade” concept in a commercial before, you’re not alone. The 5-Hour commercial is based on a very similar premise as a 2006 Tampax commercial. Take a look for yourself.
(Click here for the full 30-second version)
As we showed Jones the upgrade precursor to his acting debut, the rookie was a good sport and laughed about the similarities. And, no, he wasn’t aware that the concept in his commercial had been used for a personal hygiene product 10 years earlier. Though that shouldn’t be surprising. Jones was 10 in 2006 and 5-Hour had only been in existence for three years.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
