The Man Behind Demon Sheep (And Its Subliminal Jimmy Buffett Message)

  • Share
  • Read Later

There has been much talk on the interwebbing of late about the amateur absurdity of the Carly Fiorina Demon Sheep ad. (I chimed in myself on Wednesday, suggesting that people watch it while playing Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon for full effect.)

But the ad was created, in fact, by one of the most established and acclaimed Republican media consultants in the business, the very same guy who created the Barack Obama-as-Paris Hilton “Celebrity” ad in 2008 for John McCain. On Thursday, I got Fred Davis III on the phone, and he explained the method to his madness. “My whole deal in life is if nobody sees it and nobody talks about it, you have wasted your money,” he said. (My full story about Davis can be read at TIME.com here.)

After the jump, I have posted other greatest hits from the Davis canon, including “The Hair” and “King Roy,” the building-sized rat. But first I want to point Demon Sheep lovers to a subliminal image hidden deep within the latest ad, one that Davis said he did not even know about until I pointed it out to him. To see the image, load the YouTube below, scroll to 1:28 seconds and press pause. It looks to me like a shot of Jimmy Buffett in a cowboy hat, but it really could be anybody.

By the way, when I finished my story yesterday afternoon, there were 120,000 views on YouTube. This morning, there are more than twice as many.
In the aforementioned TIME.com story, I mention a few other Davis creations. They follow below.
The 3-minute version of the King Roy “Rat” ad for Sonny Purdue in 2002:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ovKR6M1QWA&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Here is a 1 minute version of the Andy McKenna “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow” spot from 2009:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPa9RqpFnIc&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
The Paris Hilton Celebrity Ad:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXYsw_ZDXg&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Watch this CBS News report, to see how effective the ad was at delivering the message:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phBBnxXJdoM&hl=en_US&fs=1&]