Winner 2010 Logie Award Silver: Most Outstanding Drama Series, Mini-Series or Telemovie, Winner 2009 AFI Award Best Television Drama Series), Three Sixty (Official Selection Film Festivals: L.A. Shortfest, Rhode Island Intl film festival, Flickerfest [Academy accredited], Hollywood Film festival, Sydney Cockatoo Island, Cleveland Intl Film Festival, Carmel Art, and Bay Area film festival), and many others. In such a successful career, it’s a testament to the ubiquity of advertising that he is often recognized for his commercial work such as in a very popular spot that he did for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). In the same way one can find some of the most successful musicians and singers on commercial jingles (ala Beyoncé for Pepsi), popular actors Like Eddie Tang can be seen putting a face on commercial advertisements.
KFC used “Make Time for Mantime” to appeal to the inner child of Australian and New Zealand males. At a time when the whole planet seemed fixated on avoiding carbs [bread], KFC both followed and went against the tide with their “Double Down.” The pseudo-sandwich that featured bacon and cheese between two chicken fillets, appealed to the omnipresent male agenda of instant gratification and fun versus long term dietary constraints. Matching their product with an ad campaign of equal sentiment; their commercial displayed two men in their late 20’s/early 30’s playing ping-pong in the dark while wearing night vision goggles and eating the Double Down. The scenario was the recreational/technological/caloric equivalent of running with scissors at age ten. Sales of the “sandwich” were incredibly successful in the US, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, and Australia. No doubt the “boys club” attitude of the commercial enhanced the appeal to male consumers. Tang states that concentrating on his film career is his priority but openly admits that this KFC commercial was almost impossible to not revel in as a male. He comments, “Don’t get me wrong, acting is work. I take it very seriously and I always want to do a great job. I do my homework and come very prepared whether I’m doing a film, TV, or a commercial. That being said, I can’t think of a single guy I know who, if asked, wouldn’t jump at the chance to play ping-pong in the dark while wearing night vison goggles. It instantly makes you feel like a kid. As with any extremely cool and fun technological toy, we were forbidden to use them in rehearsal as the prop master said they were too expensive to mess around with when not filming. We relented, of course…and then did it anyway when he wasn’t looking. We were extremely careful but, you can’t give someone a toy that cool and then forbid them from using it.” While Eddie uses a technique known as “personalization” to appear to enjoy products he does not have an affinity for, this was not the case with the Double Down commercial. He admits to loving KFC and fried foods in general. Fried chicken, spring rolls, hot chips (as fries are known in Australia), are all foods which require honesty rather than personalization for Tang.
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