These supersized outdoor ads totally get the weird appeal of watching microwave popcorn cook

Who knew a simple microwave-popcorn product demo could be so mesmerizing? I mean, it makes sense. Those two and a half minutes between having a strange, hard, flat pack of pre-popped corn (what exactly is in there, anyway?) and having a puffy sack of deliciousness—with all the intensifying and abating mini-explosions and bag shudders along the way—are filled with drama. But it took agency St. Luke’s to say, let’s just put it on a billboard. The giant microwaves are going up in spots all over the U.K., and they include sound for full effect. The tagline is, “Go grab the Butterkist.” The settings on the microwave read: “Reheated Debates,” “Steamy Dramas,” “Grilled Celebs” and “Comedy Roasts.” That’s a reference to the kinds of TV shows you might enjoy with your Butterkist popcorn. A dial at the bottom shows the three Butterkist flavors—Sweet, Salty and Sweet & Salty. “We need to drive reappraisal of Butterkist microwave popcorn as the perfect snack for unmissable home entertainment,” said Ben Theobald, brand manager at Butterkist. “We love the disruptive nature of the creative and hijacking a standard 48 sheet [20-foot wide] media format in a clever way.” The campaign launched on Monday and will run for two weeks on 48-sheet outdoor sites in London, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Glasgow, Luton, Sheffield, Gateshead, Derby and Dartford.

These supersized outdoor ads totally get the weird appeal of watching microwave popcorn cook

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