プロバイダーZERO | Don't Spend Money!! | 2000
The very idea of an "internet provider" has become a thing of history / Provider ZERO "Don't Spend Money!!"
It's Steve Buscemi. That alone tells you they were swinging for the fences.
The problem
In the early 2000s, internet provider fees typically ran about 1,500 yen a month. Into that market came ZERO, advertising a "free basic connection fee," and it caused a huge stir. It might be hard to imagine now just how outrageous the phrase "free internet" sounded back then.
The idea
Buscemi shouts "Don't Spend Money!!" That's the whole ad. But the sheer strangeness of that casting choice, combined with the simplicity of the message, made the shock of "it's free" land even harder. There's a comment out there calling it "TAGBOAT at its best," but as far as I could find through searching, the production details remain unknown.
Afterthought
It's perfect. Nothing more to say. The very idea of an "internet provider" may have become a thing of history, but the anticipation and excitement of that era were real. This commercial apparently made a huge impact, and it seems like quite a lot of people actually signed up because of it. The information out there is thin, but I'm recording it here as a commercial that stuck with me.
