“You’re My Present This Year”: An Oral History of the Folgers Incest Ad

302 points by melancholymagpie 14 hours ago on reddit | 28 comments

GrayHairLikeClaire | 6 hours ago

Timothy Simons (cameraman for auditions and callbacks): This was a very long time ago and if you asked me if I would end up being interviewed about this commercial that I worked on, 10 years later, I would not have believed you, because it was altogether pretty unremarkable. It’s not something I have a lot of memories about, outside of the fact that ultimately the commercial kind of seems like the brother and sister are going to have sex. That’s why we’re talking, right?

This quote always makes me laugh. Incredible stuff

GriffinQ | an hour ago

Even better that it’s Jonah from Veep (one of the funniest TV characters ever, in my opinion) saying it.

GrayHairLikeClaire | 8 minutes ago

HOLY SHIT

pedestal_of_infamy | 8 hours ago

Happy Folgers Incest Commercial season to those who observe the holiday!

raysofdavies | 7 hours ago

> He’s weary, having just returned from volunteering in “West Africa,” and the two share a cup of freshly-brewed Folgers coffee while their parents are still asleep. (In some versions he even says "ah, real coffee," as if he didn't just come from where some of the best coffee in the world is produced.)

Lmao

iridescent-shimmer | 7 hours ago

Okay this sounds nuts, but this was actually exactly my experience in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia lol. They live off of nestle instant coffee and it sucks so much! I swear everything good is exported.

popsington | 5 hours ago

Agreed. Lived in West Africa for almost three years. Unless you are in a tourist hotel or restaurant, you’re not drinking the good coffee. Honestly coffee in general isn’t even part of most people’s day to day life in the cities and villages I was in.

AdditionalQuietime | 5 hours ago

thats imperialism for ya

latswipe | 4 hours ago

There's two reasons. One, the good coffee is traditionally for export. Two, as you can note with the Nestle baby formula scandal, marketing has tied socioeconomic class-projection to bottled products.

zvezd0pad | 3 hours ago

Coffee culture is just starting to be a thing in Ecuador. There’s some fantastic spots and brands but the older generations all still drink Nestle crystals

InvisibleEar | 2 hours ago

The air pollution in London used to be so bad many people died because they exported all the good coal.

Stunning_Homework_43 | 6 hours ago

I feel like I watch so many movies where the two leads have no chemistry. Every casting director should use this commercial as their gold standard for what chemistry looks like. That would solve the problem.

simplegreen_lovesong | 13 hours ago

Yessss, it's that special time of year again! I will never not laugh at this commercial and the whole story. I remember when that commercial came out and everyone was like, "How? How did they not realize?" Thanks for the post and the laugh, OP

StephenDesigner | 8 hours ago

Great article, and everyone interviewed seemed really cool and positive.

ZaphodBeeblebro42 | 6 hours ago

I love that Timothy Simons is involved.

Deep_Joke3141 | 2 hours ago

I remember this commercial. It brought back memories of when my older brother came back from Marine Corps basic training. I was so proud of him, seeing him come off the plane in his dress blues. I really wanted to hug him and tell him how much I missed him. The emotions are still with me today as I write this. During his visit back home, I finally got to spend time with him, just the two of us. I asked him to tell me about his training. He showed me by putting me into a submission hold while pressing his knee into my wrist on the hard floor. I screamed for my life and was crying. I couldn’t believe how my beloved brother wasn’t as lovable as I had imagined. He had been transformed into a sociopathic killing machine.

ultrafud | 33 minutes ago

Jesus Christ that was a rollercoaster.

AdRevolutionary6650 | 15 minutes ago

A risky read that both did and didn’t disappoint

latswipe | 4 hours ago

hilarious. Good on everybody for agreeing to the intervirw, but one of these guys kinda comes off as almost too willfully ignorant....

...sad, but funny, that the actress refused to comment

thesphinxistheriddle | 12 hours ago

A true “if you know, you know” and I am definitely one who knows.

ViolentAmbassador | 3 hours ago

Kind of a bummer the actress wouldn't do it, but i get it

corriecorgi | 13 hours ago

Any non-paywall link?

DevonSwede | 11 hours ago

non paywall link https://archive.ph/FxMHO

Yggdrasil- | 13 hours ago

Paste the original article link here: http://archive.today/

Would recommend keeping that website bookmarked if you frequent this sub!

rothwerx | 11 hours ago

There wasn’t a paywall for me, just a cookie decision popup.

Otherwise-Mango2732 | 5 hours ago

I got one. "Subscribe to GQ to keep reading..." And the article faded out after a paragraph

Used the paywall remover though!

rothwerx | an hour ago

Weird. I’m in Europe but I wouldn’t think that would matter.

thefruitsofzellman | 5 hours ago

I prefer the anal history.