80s pop icon Rick Astley graces our screens with a brilliant sense of self awareness in this tongue-in-cheek commercial for insurance company AAA. Octopus Inc filmmaker Joseph Kahn recreates the iconic music video for Rick’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ ,while also throwing in a couple of great bits of visual comedy. The piece also plays homage to the song becoming an internet sensation due to the Rick Roll phenomenon which various members of the Lemonade Reps team have fallen victim to.
With the Rick Roll prank becoming so popular over the years, a lot of the viewers might be tricked into thinking that this isn’t really a commercial for insurance but in fact another case of the harmless Rick Roll.
Joseph Kahn also gets a fantastic performance out of Rick Astley who goes through the entire piece with a charming self-deprecation, delivering the line "this is still a thing?" at the end with some good old fashioned tongue in cheek - The power of Never Gonna Give You Up will shine on through various forms of media and forever be a pop culture diamond, as will Astley who doesn’t look much older than his 1987 self… which is when the track was first released!
Credits
Client: AAA Life Insurance
Talent: Rick Astley
Director: Joseph Kahn
Directors Rep: Octopus Inc
Producer: Nicola Kenney