Net fans go ape over gorilla ad

Nov 2 2007 By Will Oliphant, Birmingham Mail

MONKEY mania has swept the internet as fans have turned the Cadbury Gorilla ad into a cult hit.

Video sharing website YouTube has been awash with tributes to the Dairy Milk advert which features a gorilla enacting out his life-long dream to thrash out on the drums along to Phil Collins hit In The Air Tonight.

Among the sometimes frankly bizarre spoofs of the video there has been one where the gorilla loses his cool and trashes the set, several with people dressed in ape masks and another where the Phil Collins hit is replaced with Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Tony Billsbrough, Cadbury spokesman, said: "We've seen them and we feel that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

"My favourite is probably the one where the character from the Pepperami adverts nudges the gorilla out of the way and plays a guitar solo.

"There are some which range from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there are some which look quite professional. It's fine by us and we will let it ride so long as it doesn't get out of hand."

He said that since the ad began in August sales of Dairy Milk, which has a £340 million annual turnover, had increased by nine per cent.

"The ad has been phenomenal," he added. "We knew it would be, but I think even some people here have been surprised with how well it has gone down.

"It was always the plan that it would become a bit of a cult hit, it was never simply going to be about the TV viewing public.

"I think there have been four million hits on the YouTube video alone and it's been seen in most countries around the world, even though it's only been aired in the UK.

"It's been on the news in Canada and Australia just on the strength of how well it's doing on the internet. It's particularly great news here at Bournville where it's manufactured. People here have taken a pretty keen interest in it."

The ad was made under the Glass and a Half Productions campaign which is expected to continue with other unusual ads in the future, but Cadbury is keeping tight lipped about what is next.

"It won't simply be another animal playing a musical instrument," said Mr Billsbrough.

"We've got to sit down with the advertising company and decide what we're going to do next, but it won't be this side of Christmas."

The ad has also seen Phil Collins launched back into the charts with In The Air Tonight staying pretty in the top 40 since the release of the advert.

According to the UK Charts Company, the song is currently at No 16 thanks to internet downloads which have given the 26-year-old song a resurgence.

To take a peek at some of the spoof versions of the Cadbury ad, or the original itself, visit the Birmingham Mail website at www.birminghammail.net