Nivea’s weird airport terrorist prank (video)

2/14/2013 12:05am by 23

I’d have sued them if Nivea had tried this on me.  It’s not funny at all.  Though a part of me is still trying to figure out if this is a prank or what.

But basically, Nivea seems to have decided to pull a prank on airport passengers in order to get their stress levels up, and make them sweat.  All of this is to sell deodorant, I think.

Just watch the video.  I’m not going to tell you anything more, or I’ll spoil the “fun.” I think this starts off cute, but then quickly enters not funny at all territory.

Maybe things are different in Germany, but in America you’d be lucky if someone didn’t tackle you for being a suspected terrorist.

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@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and .

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  • Dumbo

    I guess we’re all lucky George Zimmerman wasn’t there to keep the world safe.

  • mpeasee

    ha, ha…lets make fun of the frighten nanny state Americans…look…make’em sweat…ha, ha! I wish it was 1999…

  • patb2009

    the instant i saw that, I was thinking “Negligence”, and if someone hadn’t gotten the memo. well. Far better to do something, funny, sexy, juvenile, rather then mean and juvenile.

  • condew

    Maybe it will move the Overton window so people won’t get bent out of shape over a Princess Bride tee-shirt.

  • tredglx

    Not too cool. I’d be a bit irritable afterwards, I think.

  • Island In The Sky

    I thought it was kind of funny. As long as the “victims” of the prank signed a release form and were paid for their trouble…

  • OtterQueen

    I don’t think an actual airport would allow this kind of prank. From what I hear, they’re a bit inflexible when it comes to security.

  • Snarki, child of Loki

    Yeah, it’s all fun and games until someone gets tased and bundled off to gitmo.

    Okay, perhaps all actors…but if it was done in the USA, I’d wonder about some TSA dude forgetting to read the memo. Besides, how did they get those liquids (deodorants!) through the checkpoint?

  • http://heimaey.us/ jim morrissey

    Lighten up people. You’re all sticks in the mud! This is funny.

  • http://www.ryanstake.net RyansTake

    1. No one was tackling anyone. It’s clear just through watching it that everyone in the area was ‘in’ on the joke.

    2. Yeah, it was still kind of mean to the people pranked (if they weren’t actors, too — which is entirely possible), but I’ve seen worse TV pranks.

    3. Hearing people bandy about how they would sue this or that really sounds like when I was a kid, and you heard ‘oh yeah? my daddy’s going to sue you!” bandied about every time you didn’t want to share a toy. My point: suing someone is very serious business and shouldn’t be trifled at.

    • http://heimaey.us/ jim morrissey

      Well the US Lawyers love to sue so they can flex their lawyer muscles and talk about how much they know about the law and blah blah blah. Us attorneys are the worst, creating more problems.

      • nicho

        Yeah, because corporations never cause any problems. Pffft.

        • http://heimaey.us/ jim morrissey

          Corporations, lawyers, all the same really.

    • patb2009

      it’s the only way to get the attention of corporate managers. If the penalty is bigger then the CEO’s bonus, then they pay attention, otherwise it’s just a cost of doing business

  • hollywoodstein

    All actors, all in on it. Arendt’s the banality of evil, the police state is now used to sell deodorant. In the US it would perhaps not end so well with a smile.

  • http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

    If everyone in the commercial is an actor and in on the script, then no harm, no foul.

    If not, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.

    I think Dogolaca is right though.

    • SkippyFlipjack

      I’m not sure what you’d sue for unless you convinced a jury that you suffered extreme distress during the couple of minutes you thought you might be wanted for something.

      Reminds me of this recent Carlsberg commercial; I guess this is a trend in Europe these days. The best part of this one is that if this took place out here in San Francisco the targets of the prank wouldn’t be scared, they’d just wonder why everyone in the theater was gay — it looks like the Folsom St. Fair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS3iB47nQ6E

  • http://twitter.com/dogolaca dogolaca

    Uh, they’re all actors, this wasn’t a film of anyone being pranked.

  • judybrowni

    Oh, I’d sue ‘em big time. After I faked an epileptic fit (that would give their lawyers an epileptic fit.)

    Laugh at that, Germans. I’d be laughing all the way to the bank.

    Good comedy punches up, not down.

    • SkippyFlipjack

      I don’t know the laws in Germany but how is this different from Candid Camera, other than being bit more elaborate?

      • judybrowni

        Candid Camera generally didn’t make people fear for their life, or for that matter, toss up terrorism, or the equivalent, as a joke, ha ha.

  • Ninong

    I didn’t think it was funny at all but I guess that is what passes for humor in Germany.

    • nicho

      I agree. I thought it was kind of stupid.

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