The Brazilian sleeping giant keeps walking - fantastic Johnnie Walker commercial

The Brazilian sleeping giant keeps walking - fantastic Johnnie Walker commercial

It's like I always say: Keep an eye always open for fantasy and you will find it sooner or later, in the most unlikely places and times.

I'm not really a fan of TV, but on one occasion I had a pleasant surprise. This was when I saw this new Johnnie Walker commercial for the Brazilian public. In this gorgeous production by agency NEOGAMA/BBH, we see the iconic Sugar Loaf unfold in the form of a rock giant, causing breaks in the landscape and shock and awe in Rio de Janeiro population.

The brazilian Johnie Walker YouTube page presents an interesting text to accompany the video, which I translated below (bolded text by us):



'In the beginning of time, in the southern part of the Americas, lived a giant. One of the few who walked the earth.


Giant by nature, and being nature himself, he was made of rocks, soil and forests that shaped his figure. Birds and animals landed and lived in his body and rivers ran in his veins. It was like a huge piece of landscape that walked and had his own free will.




Walked with steps the size of valleys and had the stature of overlapped mountains. To the north, on his way, he found the sun hot and bright in the four seasons. To the south, endless plains. To the west, plains and land full of diversity. And to the east, miles and miles of beaches where the sea gently touched the earth, forever. There was also a forest like no other on the planet. So big, green and lively that it worked as the lung for all  the continent.


 
Even with all that, one day, while walking, the giant upset.

 

Then stopped by the sea and there between the warm waters of the Atlantic and a portion of land that rose on hills, laid down. And lying in this splendid cradle, looked at the blue sky above asking, "What makes me giant?".
 

Then, imagining answers, fell into a deep sleep.
 

For ages, that are like hours for the Giants, he slept. His gigantic body stretched, the knee bent to form a great mountain, an immense rock denouncing his titanic torso and a unspeakable head , covered with trees and moss.
 

He slept until it became a legend in the world. A legend which said that the future belonged to the giant, but that he would never wake up and that the future would be to him always this: the future.
 

However, over time it became obvious that not even the legends should say "never."
 

After much dreaming about the question itself, the giant has finally awakened with the answer.
 

Woke up, got up on the land of which he was part and faced the horizon.
 

Then he took one foot off the ground and entering the sea, took a first step.
 

A decisive step toward the outside world to find his destiny.
 

Now knowing what makes a giant is not his size but the size of the steps he takes. '

For non-Brazilians, the message that the commercial intends to convey may sound puzzling. After all, what is the relation between the Sugar Loaf Mountain and a stone colossus asleep?

As our blog gets visitors from around the world (Americans and Brazilians are our two largest public), we are keen to explain. To this end, we use the passages of the Brazilian National Anthem  to which the commercial and the text above allude:

"Giant by thine own nature,
thou art beautiful, thou art strong, an intrepid colossus,
and thy future mirrors thy greatness"
 

and
   
"Eternally laid on a splendid cradle,
by the sound of the sea and the light of the deep sky,
thou shinest, O Brazil, garland of America,
illuminated by the sun of the New World!"

The commercial only shows the intrepid colossus who was asleep in a splendid cradle, which rises and continues moving toward a future that reflects his greatness.

Keep Walking, Brazil!