Panasonic prankee Rommy Gulla ‘is a role player’

So obvious – “Roam Glumly”. The new Panasonic tagline

I just wanted to clarify any confusion on rommy gulla. He is a real guy. he is 26. He lives in naraweena. And he has a 9-5 job at a rail company in which he does training exercises for employees. He also has a Facebook page (rom gulla) and is answering comments on panasonic Australia’s wall. He is aware we are pranking him, but not knowing what, how or when. We obviously needed to cast him for privacy and health reasons to make sure he was an agreeable and affable enough participant. We have begun production as you’ve seen, as this is quite an undertaking and will be using user suggestions over the whole 28 days.

Don’t see that it matters whether Rommy Gulla is the guy’s real name or not. We have been assured that he is a real person, and not an actor. He may know that pranks will be played upon him at some time, but there will still be an element of surprise when this occurs. In my opinion, the campaign should be a winner, regardless of these factors.

All actors are real people guys! There was hope it would be a non-actor, but that hope is gone.

Point is he is an actor and this idea will depend purely on the execution. – as the idea has been done a 1000 times before.

Sounds like Orwell’s “a boot pranking a human face — forever.”
This awful idea just makes me weary.

He is an actor. He’s been acting in movies. Just look him up Rom Gulla online. He may be finding it hard to get work as an actor which is why he is not working at the moment. Or he may have changed professions.

It shouldn’t matter – the content will be more engaging with an actor anyway. Idea still stands.

So what happened to spontenaeity? What happened to originality? What happened to creative thinking? Oh, sorry – it’s Panasonic. We should have known better!

This sounds like a hideous way to treat a person and a poor way to advertise.

“let’s persecute a person for 28 days to showcase our product can record stuff for 28 days”.

Pretty much a new low for advertising to stalk and harass a person for four weeks – even if they are willing or being paid for it.

What message does it send to people? It’s OK to stalk and persecute someone.

Turns me right off the brand.

But that’s just a relative tech-savvy consumer’s opinion – it is not like I am their audience or anything.

hmm, not as interesting if he is expecting them – i wanted that truman show/punkd element to it but i suppose thats more difficult possible given the legalities of it.

still think its a good idea, just hope he doesn’t ham it up too much,

However, the company insists that “Rommy Gulla” the star of The 28 Day Persecution of Rommy Gulla campaign – is not an actor and is a real person.

In response to Mr Collin’s comment above – yes casting him is fine (you can still cast people with no previous acting exp), but saying he is not an actor when it clearly looks like he is a reasonably experienced one – WTF

It is hard to believe TCP did not know he was an actor, so why lie? Saying he was just a role player come on ! If they did not know it makes TCP look even worse, simple checking for a huge campaign should be mandatory and it was very simple to find Mr Gulla’s profile page…or maybe he lied to TCP and Panasonic which is even worse.

From his own page at StarNow

I have acted in several plays including MADEMOISELE FIFI,HATFUL OF RAIN and many others, i have just recently been in a tivo commercial and have film two hands a short film.have been doing a play called fawlty inn from 14 of june.

Maybe someone took the time to set up the profile on StarNow to frame Mr Gulla?

Well done Mumbrella for making agencies accountable, maybe you can provide some more answers ?

Work like this should be a warning to all independents considering selling to a multinational: make sure you get a LOT of money.
Because no matter how awesome you are today, five or ten years from now, the shop you built with sweat and passion will be owned and operated by nomads with a horizon line of about three months.
And one evening, very quietly, the lights will go out and the door will close, never to open again.

the whole thing has now fallen over because even if the idea could still work because he doesnt know what’s coming each day, trust in the brand has been undermined by the deceit of agency and client caught lying and proferring a truly pathetic excuse – role playing is not acting, indeed!

another PR fail by an advertising agency…will they never end?

So all poential purchasers of a Blu Ray player are confined soley to Facebook.
Incredibly moronic strategy and a pathetic idea.

A campaign based on irrelevant schadenfreude by a deceitful agency. Awesome

Actor? So what? Isn’t that an occupation? Does he have to be an illiterate? A Plumber, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick technician? (As long as he didn’t ever listen in Drama class) ….. C/mon he doesn’t know what horrors are going to befall him ….. lighten up!

Why is everything always so negative on here? They’re a decent brand trying to appeal to the mass market with an idea that should go relatively well. Just because it isn’t completely mind-blowing, doesn’t mean it won’t work, whether or not he’s an actor. And if I were them, I’d want someone who is going to be at least halfway exciting in front of the camera too.

And to all those being high and mighty about the idea… Jackass has spawned three successful movies, and The Hangover 2 (despite being a rehash of the original) smashed the box office. So why pretend physical comedy isn’t going to go down well with the majority? I’m with Gash – Lighten up!

Maria
Remember our job is to sell stuff. Once you’ve done that you have money to go to the movies and have a good laugh but laughing at thye clients expense is a bit of a joke.