Jurassic Gorilla https://jurassicgorilla.com
This Pabst Blue Ribbon beer commercial was produced in the early 1980s, a time when bodybuilding was still in its rapid ascendance. The producers of this ad obviously wanted to use Frank Zane but they needed some kind of drama, something building up to a climax within a 30 second spot that the audience could relate to and cheer on. But could the audience relate to a guy in a thong winning a contest by out posing other thonged men? They needed a relatable catch so they turned Zane from a narcissistic bodybuilder to a weightlifter that could lift more weight over his head. He who lifts the heaviest weight wins. No one needs a stack of bodybuilding magazines and a 10th viewing of Pumping Iron to understand the dynamics. So, Zane ended up portraying a weightlifter who happened to be fortunate enough to achieve a Mr. Olympia build as a side effect of training for weightlifting contests, certainly nothing as vain as trying to sculpt one’s self to out-preen other men in front of an audience. Even today, 40 years later, could a serious commercial have the backdrop of a guy winning a posedown?
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