Political Remix Video » corporations

There’s Nothing the Chinese Red Army Can’t Sing

Jonathan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:11:35 +0000

What’s the most popular piece of footage to remix on the planet? Well it’s hard to say exactly. In the United States, the German film “Der Untergang” (the source for the infamous Hitler Downfall Parody videos) is a major contender but in Asia, there’s no doubt that the Chinese Red Army Choir wins. Take a look at the original footage of the choir playing the Long March Song Cycle (长征组歌) filmed in 1976.

The Red Army sync version of Michael Jackson’s hit “Beat It” is definitely the most popular with well over 10 million views on ToDou.com alone. (If videos don’t load re-fresh the page).

Beat It – The Red Army Version

Although a handful of ripped copies of the Red Army’s Beat It have made their way onto western sites like YouTube in recent weeks, the vast majority live on the Chinese site Tudou (土豆网) (which translated literally means “Potato Net”). It’s without a doubt one of the largest video sharing sites in the world – claiming to be about five time bigger than YouTube.

A quick search on ToDou.com for “Red Army Edition” (红军版) returns hundreds of remixes including this extensive playlist. Beyond Michael Jackson hits you can also see the Red Army Choir doing their rendition of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Usher as well as classic songs like American Idiot, We Will Rock You and Never Gonna Give You Up – all in varying remix quality. A few of our favorite “Red Army Versions” are posted below. (They may take some time to load but are worth it).

As for the deeper cultural meaning – perhaps these remixes serve as a commentary on Chinese government authoritarianism or on the virus-like nature of American corporate pop culture. Maybe they are just making fun of old Communist Party propaganda or perhaps it’s all of the above. Not being versed in Simplified Chinese, it’s hard to tell what the true intentions are, but the Red Army might very well be the most remixed video on the planet. Mao Zedong is undoubtedly spinning in his grave (perhaps even in sync to the music).

Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Theme song)

Wavin’ Flag (Coca-Cola World Cup celebration mix)

Prague Square (布拉格廣場) by Taiwan stars Jay Chou & Jolin Tsai

BP Remix Video Roundup

Jonathan — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:28:00 +0000

The internets have been busy over the past couple months creatively re-branding and correcting the corporate identity of the company formally known at British Petroleum. We have seen some hilarious logo re-design, mock print ads and of course the ever entertaining BPGlobalPR spoof Twitter feed. Not to be outdone online video remix has also played a part in the raging Internet vs. BP brand battle. So we here at PRV have collected a handful of our favorites.

The first of several more honest re-cut versions of the now infamous “Message From Tony Hayward” PR propaganda commercial that BP is trying to infect the internet with by buying up all the search terms relating to the disaster. Listen carefully to the audio editing in the remix below which transforms Tony’s words into something perhaps a little closer to the truth.

Last week, BP CEO Tony Hayward went before Congress in round one of the oil company’s Congressional hearings. As if the 60 day oil geyser hemorrhaging into the Gulf and the lack of solutions for stopping it weren’t enough, Hayward adds insult to injury by simply re-using his own words that “A Message from Tony Hayward” ad as his opening statement to the House.

One more remix of “A Message from Tony Hayward” ad – this time with a new overdub of Hayward’s “last words” includes a call to action to revoke BP’s Corporate Charter which you can do here.

BP’s massive $200 million rebranding campaign handled by Ogilvy & Mather in July 2000 won the PRWeek’s 2001 “Campaign of the Year” award for re-imaging the brand’s identity to communicate that “BP can be a friend — listening to consumers, speaking in a human voice“. Here, the BP campaign is accurately adjusted to illustrate a more fitting identity correction.

An emotion-filled anecdote created by editing Hayward quotes with the song, “End of the World” by Skeeter Davis for the organization NRDC.

News footage and photographs are combined with Disney’s animated feature The Little Mermaid to provide a new meaning to the hit song Under the Sea.

In “A Whole Day Of Tony Hayward’s Obfuscating In Four Minute”, Ben Craw of the Huffington Post, illustrates how Hayward refuses to answer question and gives intentionally ambiguous responses to House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Because it seems that’s the real role of a leader at BP.

Have you seen other BP remix videos online? If so please post links in the comments!

Dove Onslaught(er)

Jonathan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:53:15 +0000

Can a political remix video help effect actual change in the world? YES!

Unilever’s personal care brand Dove is the again target, this time being called out by GreenPeace for the corporation’s role as the biggest single buyer of palm oil in the world, and thus, a major contributor to the destruction of rainforests because of massive palm oil plantations.

Greenpeace spoofed Dove’s Onslaught ad with great success: thanks to the public support of the campaign and the remix (which received more views on YouTube than the original ad with over a million) Unilever agreed to an “immediate moratorium on deforestation for palm oil plantations”. They also agreed to help clean up the industry by contacting the other major companies calling on them to support the moratorium. Companies like Cargill & General Mills though have still not gotten on board.

Political Remix Video » corporations

There’s Nothing the Chinese Red Army Can’t Sing

BP Remix Video Roundup

Dove Onslaught(er)

A Message From Unilever

More Honest World Economic Leaders

RBC Olympics Flame Trail Ad Re-dubbed

Move Your Money: It’s a Wonderful Life Recontextualized

Woman’s Last Stand

We Are Creators Too

The Slow Road to Fair Use