Miller Brewing Company stepped out of their usual advertising routine in 2003 to produce their ‘Dominoes’ TV ad for Miller Lite. The TV advert begins with a side shot of a man being taken down from behind by fellow pedestrians. The domino-effect continues into an office, knocking over shelving and sending a woman flying over a photocopier. An office worker falls in to the lift and out of it again on the gound floor, starting another chain reaction on the street and on a bus.
As people fall in the supermarket we see shelves labelled “CP”, “Fruit”, “Cola” “Bran FlaIn the background the meat section is labelled “Choice Cuts”. The fall spills out the delivery door, spreading to a railway station, out a revolving door, ending up in a bar. The effect finishes as one man steps aside. The music stops as he looks at the fallen queue and turn to the bar to take delivery of his Miller Lite beer. The voiceover: “At Miller, we brew great tasting beer for people who want to make their own choice.” The super: “Miller – Good call”. Click on the image below to play the video.
Credits
The Miller Lite Dominoes television commercial was developed by advertising agency Young & Rubicam (Y&R Chicago) by art director Jon Wyville, copywriter Dave Loew and executive producer Matt Bijarchi.
The Miller Lite Dominoes spot was directed by Fredrik Bond at MJZ (Morton Jankel Zander) with director of photography Carl Nilsson. Editor was Richard Orrick at The Whitehouse Post.
Seth Stevenson, in his article at Slate in December 2003, explains that the Dominoes effect was achieved by employing 150 stunt people to fall over in several locations. He writes that one of the stuntpeople was a gymnast (I’d say the one who leaps over the photocopier) and another was a judo champ. Jon Wyville, creative director, is quoted as saying that the ad presents Miller as the beer who think about their options rather than giving into the default choice of Bud or Bud Light.
The soundtrack to the Miller Lite Dominoes TV ad is “Freedom of Choice”, especially recorded by Devo. The song was originally recorded in 1990 on their album, “Freedom of Choice”. Sound and music was mixed at Mutato Muzika, the company formed by Devo band members.
Jerry Casale, one of the founding members of Devo, told Songfacts that “Freedom of Choice” written as a critique of the blind consumerism of a country obsessed with meaningless choices between Pepsi and Coke, pink fur shoes or blue suede shoes. In the Miller Lite version of the song the lyric, “He went in circles ’til he dropped dead” was changed to “He went in circles ’til he dropped down.” What is missing here are the final lines of the song, “Freedom of choice is what you got, Freedom from choice is what you want”.
Devo lyrics used in the Millers Lite Dominoes TV Ad:
In ancient Rome
there was a poem
about a dog
who found two bones.
He picked at one,
He licked the other,
He went in circles
til he dropped down
Freedom of choice!