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Soda Ad "Amputee" Demands Truth In Advertising (Sometimes)
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 30, 2012
Modified Jan 30, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 30, 2012
Modified Jan 30, 2012
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Last week we were aghast at how the New York Times and Big Soda combined to heap outrage on the Health Department's photoshopped ad campaign against diabetes. You'd have thought Mayor Bloomberg personally fed this actor into the woodchipper! Now, the Times has spoken with the man who posed for the picture, Cleo Berry, who was apparently "stunned" when he saw his image in the ad for the first time on Friday. "I was beyond shocked. I cried at my computer screen for, like, a minute." More than the crocodile tears he shed for this sandwich ad in which he gets viciously beaten? That is what happened, isn't it?
Presumably believing that there should be truth in advertising only when it comes to public service announcements, Berry, who admitted he signed a release saying his image could be altered, says, "You are New York City, for God's sake. Give it to us the right way or we won't believe you at all."
The 27-year-old actor, who has snagged a small part on House and the role of Horton the elephant Seussical, and now lives in Los Angeles, offered to appear in an ad for a soda company to irk the Health Department. "I'll sing and dance for them and I won't charge an arm and a leg." Hooray! Because there's no greater cause than selling carbonated fructosewater to a corpulent nation.
Tagged
advertising
coke
diabetes
doh
health department
obesity epidemic
pepsi
soda
truth in advertising
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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