Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Richard S. Blasi — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:02:22 GMT

That young lady deserves a "BIG" bonus from gatorade.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

T. Wright, Daytona Beach FL — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:48:04 GMT

Doesn't anyone else see the ball come out of the stands, dropped down to her? It's done so it looks like she caught the ball, but actually was set up.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

DH, Charlotte, NC — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:52:04 GMT

It's no different than any other "just happened" video ads... chicken, sport drink, vehicles, etc... just another ad to make you stop and look... nothing else to see lets move along.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

D curtis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:53:10 GMT

my son was in this commercial, filmed in fresno at grizzly stadium. the girl was on a wire, they shot this all nite long moving the extras from one area to another to make stadium look full!

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Sara, Oklahoma City, OK — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:53:29 GMT

There was an article in "Clicked", under the Internet section of MSNBC.com, about this very ad today (http://clicked.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/30/1175629.aspx). In a nutshell, an ad company made kind of a rough draft of the ad, which was intended for TV, and then was dropped from the account by the manufacturer. Nobody's claiming responsibility for having released it, but nobody seems particularly unhappy about it's release. . .

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

CJ — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:57:37 GMT

Fox should run it. Fits in with their type of "real news stories".

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Fred — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:27:06 GMT

Great piece of work! I want to meet Phoenix Brown, the ballgirl! She's awesome! Incredibly believable!

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Nick, Rock Hill, SC — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:46:48 GMT

Obviously staged, but good for 15 seconds of entertainment.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

JayInAtlanta — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:11:06 GMT

It's good work (direction, acting by the ball girl, catcher, etc.) and deserved to be seen. I'm glad someone leaked it.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

JEF, Chicago — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:17:05 GMT

There is a good interview on Snoops http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/ballgirl.asp describing how they made the commercial.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Alaina, Boston — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:23:43 GMT

This may sound a bit too conspiracy theory, but I don't really believe the leak was an accident. Come on, Gatorade invests a lot in its marketing team and you know they do their research. So I'm sure they are well aware of the power of viral marketing these days. And the "Aw gee wiz!" response from the brass is the icing on the cake. Not that I'm hating...more power to 'em for staying on the cutting edge and having great PR! I'd love to work for Gatorade some day!

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Wachovia Online Banking — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:47:38 GMT

That is an awesome video.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Rebel Gent — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:14:32 GMT

The video was fun to watch...and I did so several times. What more can any company want than to have made such a successful video that has people watching it over and over and sharing it with friends? Kudos to Gatorade for their efforts!

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Dave, Warner Robins, Georgia — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:12:12 GMT

As Shakespeare wrote; "Much ado about nothing."

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

papouz12, Cincinnati, OH — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:30:43 GMT

WOW I wanted to believe it. ( say it isn"t so) A"never giveup" attitude well needed in the sport these days.
I had my grand sons' watch it with me.
Anyway it was enjoyable all I can say is,
ya got me this time.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Roi, Rochester, NY — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:36:00 GMT

Good showing but never noticed the Gatorade in the video clips of the emails I received.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

JD, Richmond — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:39:24 GMT

Gatorade copied this concept from another sports drink (don't recall the brand, does that tell you something?) Those ads from a couple years back included a quarterback slinging the football @ 100 yards into the stands (Mike Vick?) and a surfer surviving a hurricane-fed wave who miraculously come out the other end. Tyson Chicken also did this (parents dunking, etc after eating their chicken.) Just re-touched 'live action.' Perhaps this is just '3rd times a charm'?

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

JT, Culver City California — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:42:57 GMT

yo richmond i was thinking the same thing. powerade did it with lebron and the girl throwing the ball form the centerfield stands to home plate. also a bridge jump to name a few

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

David, Minneapolis, MN — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:49:00 GMT

Lots of work done to create this. Very clean job. Definitely not released "by mistake" or leaked. Very intentional.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

SAM, INGRAM MIAMI — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:56:47 GMT

THE CUTEST COMMERCIAL I HAVE SEN IN QUITE SOME TIME. THE YOUNG LADY IS GREAT.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Kris Burns, Pittsburgh, PA — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:56:59 GMT

I watched the video over and over and NEVER NOTICED any Gatorade bottle. I think a lot of people missed it too and that's why the truth is now come to the fore. Great ad though but I still don't like the taste of Gatorade.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Charles McLaurin, Columbia,SC — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:19:53 GMT

Can you people just not enjoy a classic, clean bit of entertainment.Who cares about, what, why when where or how. Gatorade deservers a "thank you"!
Oldhippie,
Columbia, SC

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

scaredstiff, san diego, ca. — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:03:13 GMT

Since we wseem to be stuck with commercials I'm glad that at least some of them are entertaining. I am so sick of GGW spots and Billy Mays I could puke. Thanks Gatorade.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Teri, Baytown, TX — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:35:28 GMT

I, like others, was thinking this was the coolest thing when my husband & I heard an Astros baseball announcer say it wasn't real. He, in turn, said 'I didn't think so". He sure "thought so" five minutes before. Anyway, "They did good in my books" or there wouldn't be this much attention still given to it. A memorable ad. Need more "good stuff" these days. Tks.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

HappyCat, High Bridge, NJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:37:41 GMT

What gets me is so many people think this is real. It's not, it's special effects.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Veteran Marketer, LA, CA — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:22:14 GMT

Cute ad, but did it sell more product? If you don't sell more, it's a wasted effort.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Jessica S, Naples, FL — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:13:48 GMT

What's wrong with you good ol' boys who insist this is special effects? See the look on the face of the catcher? He's about as happy as you are to see such a catch made by a mere FEMALE!

Judging by the nasty comments and dishonest denials claiming "special effects", the reason Gatorade never used this commercial is because they didn't want to "offend" the most ignorant of their customers!

These would be those jerks who have so much invested in their belief that women are good for one thing only, that any proof to the contrary must be denied at all costs.

Imagine, several people went to the extent to lie and make up different stories about how this great catch was "staged". One letter had husband and wife stating they both "heard" an Astros announcer say it "wasn't real". Another viewer claims "details" about good "directing" and "good acting" by the ballgirl and the catcher; a third states simply, "obviously staged."

My favorite two were these: the first asks: "Doesn't anyone else see the ball come out of the stands, dropped down to her? It's done so it looks like she caught the ball, but actually was set up"
(...Actually, NO, I didn't see the ball dropped to her out of the stands. Her spectacular catch was much easier than if she tried the acrobatic set-up the way you suggested it was done!)
And, finally, this lulu: "my son was in this commercial, filmed in fresno at grizzly stadium. The girl was on a wire, they shot this all nite long moving the extras from one area to another to make the stadium look full!"

WOW! Let's all remember these statements whenever we hear about a female having to do her job twice as hard as a male to get credit! Or, remember these nasty sour grapes statements when we deny there is such a thing as discrimination against women in America.

I find it hard to understand why people will go to such extremes to continue to fool themselves. What awful things would happen to them if they accepted that some women can do some things better than some men and vice versa?

Imagine the writer whose "son" reported this was staged - with performers and "extras working all night" moving around the stadium to simulate a crowd. And, "The girl was on a wire"! If these BSers spent half the time paying attention to their own lives instead of manufacturing scenarios that are acceptable for their pitiful damaged souls, they might be able to become something other than the losers they surely are!

I have seen many women play competitive ball and some of them made spectacular catches. Admittedly, this one is the best I've seen. Not only does this girl climb up the Left field wall using her left foot with her back to the plate, but she then climbs the Center field wall to her right with her next step. Then her body spins 180' back to facing home plate at the very height of her jump which must be at least 15 feet off the ground, when she catches the ball. Many outfielders have trouble chasing a fly ball running with their backs to the plate. This young lady ran straight to that ball, using every aspect of her body and of the ball field to get her into position to make that catch. Her preparation is what makes the catch spectacular. Once the glove gets to where the ball will be, the catch itself is anticlimactical. Let's have our doubting Thomases explain THIS part of the "staging" or "Special Effects"! Perhaps one of them will try to climb the left field wall, the centerfield wall, spin around 180' and catch a ball dropped from somewhere above? Don't forget to include that staging "wire" and pull this off in 1.5 seconds!

BTW ... A partially full jar of Gatorade can be seen to the left of the chair the ball girl is sitting in at the end of the film clip.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Vic, Las Vegas, NV — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:26:46 GMT

C'mon people, take it for what it is, AN AD, and a very good one at that. Staged, not staged, Gatorade, Red Bull, or Nike, it is fun, well put together, and conspiracy or not it has A LOT of hits. Kudos to the ones who did it and the ones that leaked it.

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

arlene hammons, sulphur, la — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:49:48 GMT

As the saying goes, not everything you read is the truth and now not everything you see is real. But yes it was a great ad or whatever. :-)

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

da_LesMan — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:17:38 GMT

LOL! "Obviously staged!" One person out of thousands and thousand wasn't fooled like we were. It was a GREAT commercial, and it DID look real!

Gatorade scores a surprise home run

Rob W, Fort Myers, FL — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:19:01 GMT

Jessica S. GET REAL!! It's a commercial, plain and simple, designed to entertain and bring product reconition, not a massive coverup against women! It;s your 1960's thinking that keeps reminding everyone that men and women are differant! Same thing with races, colors and creeds. As Will Smith once said in a movie "Don't start nothing and there won't be nothing".