Alien Jones (Earth Survey series)
Suntory Boss2006
Alien Jones (Earth Survey series) is a 2006 series of 30- and 60-second television commercials for Suntory Boss, created by Shingata, One Sky and Dentsu, Tokyo.
The line
This lousy, wonderful world (Kono rokudemonai, subarashiki sekai)
Why it works
In each episode Tommy Lee Jones, playing an alien sent to survey Earth, takes another Japanese job, from sumo referee to island doctor, watches the locals with a straight face, then gulps a can of Boss while his Japanese narration delivers a dry verdict on "the inhabitants of this planet". Suntory asked planner Shinichi Fukusato for a series that could run at least five years, keep Boss as the working person's ally and lift viewers' spirits amid relentless bad news. His answer was an outsider who starts out sardonic and slowly comes to admire the people he studies, a premise that renews itself with every new job, summed up in the line "this lousy, wonderful world". Made since 2006 under creative director Hiroshi Sasaki, it had passed 70 occupations by 2020. It is studied as a model of the endlessly extendable Japanese character series, and in 2009 it won the Grand Prix at the ACC CM Festival, one of Japan's biggest commercial competitions, by a wide margin.
Techniques
- Mascots and characters Casts Tommy Lee Jones as a recurring alien who surveys Earth through a new Japanese job each episode, a character premise that keeps renewing itself.
- Humour Each episode ends with a dry, straight-faced verdict on the planet's inhabitants over a can of Boss, a sardonic tone that slowly warms into admiration.
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