M’azing Commercials

image The TV commercials for a new chocolate bar called M'azing show people doing amazing things in order to earn a bar of M'azing chocolate. In one commercial a guy balances a washing machine on his jaw. In another one a girl twists her legs all the way around her body in a way that really doesn't look possible. You can see all the ads here (quicktime and wmv format). Someone wrote in to Stuart Elliott's advertising column in the NY Times asking if the movie with the girl doing the thing with her legs was real. Elliott says it is. This is his exact response:

Stuart Elliott: The gymnast in the commercial is really performing what you see on screen, according to the Masterfoods division of Mars in Hackettstown, N.J., which markets the new M'azing line of candy. The spot, called "Mystic Pixie," is indicative of the direction of the campaign, which is to celebrate people whose talents enable them to perform feats that are truly amazing. The performers are, of course, meant to personify the amazing taste of M'azing. The campaign is created by the flagship New York office of BBDO Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group.

Advertising Photos

Posted on Wed Apr 13, 2005



Comments

Yeah, Mystic Pixie has just *got* to be real. If not, what have young guys got to dream about when a girl who can do this turns legal? Ah, what fond memories of days of yore, right, Hairy?
Posted by stork in the Enclave  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  06:24 PM
Yore right- Hairy
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  06:38 PM
Not quite sure why people would have such a hard time believing such acrobatics is possible. Have they never heard of contortionists? Doesn't anybody go to the circus anymore?

Next we'll hear that it's simply impossible that someone could really break a board with their bare hands, breathe fire, walk a tightrope over a waterfall, be shot out of a cannon or wrestle a bear. Must all be done with CGI, right?

What a banal, colorless world some would have us live in. Geez, what would they think if they saw Tod Browning's "Freaks"?
Posted by Barghest  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  07:46 PM
Definately real... knew a girl once who could lay on her stomach and bring her feet back over and plant them flat on the floor right beside her head just like the chick in the commercial. So moving around in a circle to get to the same point isn't impossible, just rare.
Posted by Mark-N-Isa  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  08:03 PM
this is just me, but i can't stand how the announcer in the commercials says "shocklate".
Posted by chloe  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  08:52 PM
My old man worked for The General Foods Corp. for 37 years, some of that time within the Baker's Chocolate division. He was a packaging engineer, and was able to bring home 10lb slabs of chocolate in brown paper for "tolerance testing". We were quite popular around Halloween. The old man would hand kids a baseball-sized chunk of chocolate wrapped in waxed paper. I should have been a Dentist.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  09:02 PM
Dude. How could someone not believe that was real? Besides, I saw her on the new Star Search before she was even on the commercial. She's also been on the Steve Harvey Show.

People suck. 😜
Posted by KungFuMoose  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  09:27 PM
Hairy, now that's what I'm talkin' about - baseball-sized balls of chocolate, without FDA approval. Good Shit! And don't you just *love* those 'Mon Cheri's'? The ones with cognac made in Europe, not the nouget ones they try to pawn off on us here in the U.S.
Posted by stork  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  10:07 PM
The Omnicom Group? Has Robocop come true?
Posted by Ashley Pomeroy  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  05:30 AM
Looks real, but does look stop motion - so I think she could reach all of those positions with her legs, but not that fast...
Posted by Scott Keir  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  02:04 PM
Omni Consumer Products, or OCP, were the Privatizers of Old and New Detroit in Robocop. De nada
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  02:14 PM
I think they're both real, but the Mystic Pixie movie obviously has speeded-up motion. The producers ruined the whole bit when they did that. If you can't see the trick in real time, it's no fun.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  06:05 PM
Of course this is real - I could do it before my spine (and more)was damaged by Thatcher's wrecking of the NHS!

Any good gymnast can do this - in fact, any person - who doesn't eat too many chocolate bars and watch too many movies while sitting on the sofa should be able to do it!
Posted by Ali J Hunt  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  06:07 PM
>>>Any good gymnast can do this - in fact, any person - who doesn't eat too many chocolate bars and watch too many movies while sitting on the sofa should be able to do it!<<<


I call bullpoopie. That's like saying that any person can walk a tightrope.

Yeah, if they have a certain natural degree of gifted agility, and practice for years beforehand, sure. But that's not the same as any random person getting up off the couch right now and walking across a tightrope. Without agility and training, you fall on your ass.

Not everyone is as flexible (or even as potentially flexible) as everyone else.

I have a pretty good documentary on tape called "The Twisted Lives of Contortionists". Bottom line: you have to be BORN that way to do most of that stuff (stepping through an unstrung tennis racket, or the two-asses-in-a-tube trick those Asian guys do on that other M-Azing commercial). Whether you put in the training and practice to make a career out of it is another matter, but still.
Posted by Barghest  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  07:17 PM
Yeah, I've watched that 'barrel' video a few times, and can't get over just how much that would hurt, or even break, my spine. But then, I'm not a 20-ish Asian guy. And definately NOT a 14-yr old contortionist girl. Speed-stop? Yeah, maybe; but I'd rather have a baseball-sized chocolate ball than try to imitate her moves. OUCH - Honey, call an ambulance, NOW!
Posted by stork  on  Thu Apr 14, 2005  at  09:40 PM
It's obviously speeded up - thought that was so obvious it dikdn't require comment - but 'years of practice?' Months. A little at a time. Carefully.
I wasn't born that way - I'm no professional just limber and fit and got lumbered with the usual few years of ballet school when small. Swimming yoga dancing riding. It takes much less balance to stand on one's hands than to walk a tightrope (which is easy compared to slackrope)any gymnast can do it. It is the speeding up of the film that makes it appear impossible. Many people say they can't touch their toes, but if they try daily and aren't such pillocks as to regard the stretching of unused ligaments as "pain" they find that within a week they can touch their toes, a fortnight and they can put their hands flat on the floor. One doesn't have to limber the spine to the rear while standing, the same effect is achieved while lying prone and pushing up like a press up while keeping the pelvis flat to the floor - the Cobra position. Get off the sofa and try it!
Posted by damnationali  on  Fri Apr 15, 2005  at  12:52 PM
Hey I won an M-azing bar for winning our counties Monopoly tournment. But I wouldn't call that M-azing. Just kind of a funny conicidence. 😊
Posted by aprilshowers  on  Fri Apr 15, 2005  at  08:34 PM
Does anyone but me find the commercial a bit disgusting and slightly perverted? Her low cut top, bending all over, and being so young. It disturbs me, and I'm a 22 year old male.
Posted by DHS  on  Mon Apr 18, 2005  at  08:19 PM
Now you mention it, you're right. I hadn't thought of it in that light, only from the point of view of the actual physical activity involved.

Shouldn't worry too much though, you're a normal young man.

The College of Cardinals has just picked a new pope who, according to the National Catholic Reporter's own Abuse Tracker (http://ncronline.org/) is supposedly due to appear in an abuse trial in Texas. That'll be interesting!
Posted by damnationali  on  Tue Apr 19, 2005  at  11:06 PM
Something I just wanted to say. I have to believe that the person above writing about the simplicity and ease with which anyone can, after a few months of preparation, perform this feat is stretching the truth for want of anonymous recognition. I have been into bodybuilding and MMA for 9 years now, and I'm limber enough to kick the 9' high ceiling above me, but just to test his theory, I had to try this and frankly, my spine doesn't bend that way. Granted, it looks harder than it is thanks to the increased framerate, which makes her middle look like it's made of rubber, but to say that anyone but certain people with certain levels of training can do this is absurd. I can't do it simply because I am not a 14 year-old female gymnast with a propensity for having a very flexible spine. All of those factors help her do what she does, not just her training, which I'm sure is impressive as well. I have a cousin who is still skinny as a rail and was in gymnastics and cheerleading until she was 22, and I'm pretty sure she can't do that either. I say this because even though I haven't seen her try, I have seen what she considers to be her best tricks, and even her bridge didn't convey the possibility of a curvature of the spine of this magnitude. So, long rant short, I'd have to say at least 95% of people, even in top physical condition and flexibility for their musculo-skeletal dispositions could not affect this display.
Posted by Gyre  on  Sat Apr 23, 2005  at  10:53 PM
NO stop action ! NO speeding up !! NO TRICKS OF ANY KIND !!! The Mystic Pixies is an acrobatic troupe. You can download a video from their homepage which shows this feat being performed live in front of an audience. Heck, hire them to perform at your own house 😊
Posted by jerry  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  09:36 PM
Whoops ... forgot to list their homepage ... http://www.mysticpixies.net/

Now get back to work.
Posted by Jerry  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  09:38 PM
Ok, I promise this is the last post. The video from http://www.mysticpixies.net/ is in Quicktime. Since I personally prefer a fullscreen format, I used Easy CD Creator to add the pixie footage to a new video postcard..then saved the file as a MPEG/VCD. Wrote it to CD and now I can play it on my DVD player hooked to my TV. Or, of course, I can just play it on my PC using WinMedia.

Enjoy
Posted by Jerry  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  10:16 PM
who the girl in the commu please
Posted by jack  on  Mon May 30, 2005  at  08:54 PM
This person is actually doing that trick, my fiend can also do it. But you have to be born with a certin type of spine. You spine thingys have to be really close together in order for your spine to bend all the way down.
Any person that stretches and trains enough can touch the tips of toes to the ground but you have to be a contortionist to put your whole foot on the ground
Posted by mm_dancer  on  Mon Jun 06, 2005  at  06:50 PM
I believe that commercial entirely, as I have seen enough strange abilities that would make it onto those commercials easily. I once knew someone who could take their own head, crack their neck, and twist it to almost 180 degrees. Creepy stuff. Never met someone with that kind of contortion ability, though.
Posted by Bob  on  Mon Jul 04, 2005  at  10:29 PM
i have seen that girl perform live as well as get a chance to talk to her personally. There is NO sped up frame rate! Also, it does take years! She works out 40 hours a week, and her coach is her legal guardian. Even people born unnaturally flexible such as herself need to work really hard to reach that level of skill. As a gymnast myself I can truthfully say that it takes a lot of time and effort to improve on your natural flexibility. She is in a group called the Mystic Pixies with 3 other girls, and they just got a contract with Cirque du Soleil. They are really good and completely real.
Posted by Itsallreal  on  Mon Jan 23, 2006  at  10:44 PM
The girl is Julie Bergez and no, her coach is not her legal guardian, she lives with her dad and sis. They do not have a contact with Cirque du Soliel either.

That is entirely possible, and you dont have to be born with any special spine, trust me. I have a normal body, but I work hard to be flexible, as can anyone else. That is how I am able to do the things that she does in the commercial.
Posted by Sarah  on  Mon Jan 30, 2006  at  04:54 PM
whoa, you can actually do that trick? That's just.... m-azing!
Posted by Bob  on  Thu May 18, 2006  at  09:06 PM
what mm_dancer wrote is simply not true.

Anyone that stretches and trains enough, providing they do not have any physical limitations, can touch their feet to the ground in a chest stand.
Everyone's body and bone structure are built differently, thus it is much easier for some people to achieve that goal than others, but for the most part, natural talent and flexibility makes up only about %.. the rest is dedication.

Contortionists become such through training. There does exist a condition of hyper mobility, where people are just naturally flexible without much work. However, such people generally require extra strength development in order to prevent injury, and to attain body control that is required of a handbalancing contortionist.

And they do have a contract with cirque du soleil.
Posted by Alis  on  Mon Dec 11, 2006  at  10:46 AM
Last night i watched a show on TLC and yes they are now signed with Cirque du Soleiel.... she doesnt have a sister its a brother and she lvies with her mom and brother while her dad is still back home while she is training for cirque du soleil
Posted by Morgan  on  Thu May 17, 2007  at  10:06 AM
She actually DOES have a sister (no brother). She's in Canada right now, with Cirque de Soleil and her troupe, The Mystique Pixies. Her sister isn't with her though.
Posted by Clare  on  Fri Jun 22, 2007  at  02:43 PM
I know that this commercial is real because I am a gymnast and I can do the same thing. Right now I am actually doing it for a demostrative speech in class.
Posted by Brittanie  on  Wed Sep 26, 2007  at  12:07 PM
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