I love watching advertisements on the Internet. For every heart-rending, soul-crushingly meaningful ad lies a few which don't know what any of those words mean. These ads are so terrible on first viewing that they go viral because people love sharing and ridiculing horrible things online. One such example I stumbled upon recently was an ad done by Singapore's Tourism Board to promote Singapore as a unique travel destination.

Someone at the Singapore Tourism Board decided to do something different, something that would draw in the tourists like bees to honey. What resulted was a tourism ad that insulted the intelligence of everyone who watched it for the first time. But after multiple rewatchings (a chance all terrible ads must be given), this ad turns into one of the most brilliant comedic videos I've seen in a while.

Watch the video here before reading the rest of this post. It will make more sense.

A tourism ad usually doesn't require any sort of a plot or story, but that didn't stop the creative minds behind the ad to try breaking that convention.  The plot is straightforward. A married couple takes a trip to Singapore for their anniversary, where he hits the motherlode (sorry, I couldn't resist). In between their lovey doveyness, Singapore's metal trees and indoor parks are featured prominently. It's the stuff comedy is made of.

The Dubbing

There is a lag.

...is terrible. It's like the two actors aren't even trying to speak normally. But then again, that could be intentional because I laughed too hard whenever the couple has a "conversation" that doesn't involve the lady saying "LOOK HONEY!" and pointing off into the horizon. Plus, old Chinese comedies had terrible dubbing but was still funny as heck. I'll be damned if this ad doesn't successfully pull it off to draw in the laughs.

The "LOOK HONEY!"

"Honey, LOOK!" the lady exclaims as the camera pans to...nothing in particular. "Honey, let's go there!" as the lady pulls her husband to...nowhere.

This ad has so many "Look Honey"s that it should legally be renamed as such. This happens because the director needed a chance to showcase the beauty of Singapore without veering too far away from the main plot. The effect is astonishingly hilarious.

The Champagne Glass

...is probably magic.

The TWIST

One of the hallmarks of a great film lies in the twist; a shocking revelation at the end which catches the audience by surprise. The best kind of twist endings is when absolutely nothing has prepared you for the twist; no clues, no shots of anything hinting at a twist. I would say that everyone was pretty shocked by the Shyamalansque twist ending in the STB ad where *SPOILERS*, the lady announces her pregnancy by presenting her man with a pregnancy test disguised as an anniversary gift.

You don't even have to watch the video to laugh at that sentence.

The Man

Comedy depends strongly on the actors' body language, sometimes even more than the spoken word. The man in this ad is a perfect example of how you do comedy solely through body language. Every single time his wife does or say something, it takes him approximately 3 seconds to come up with the proper facial expression. Just look at his face here when he opens up the watch case to a positive pregnancy test.

I've watched this scene close to 10 times now and my stomach still hurts every time. Do you think words can ever replicate this sort of comedy?

If you cringed the first time you watched this video, now's the time to watch it a few more times. Trust me, by the 4th rewatching, you'll be rolling in the floor laughing. 

Cheerios!