Roger Federer Trickshot Goes Viral — Was It Real, Fake or Just an Ad?
EmailABC's Bradley Blackburn reports from New York:
A video of tennis star Roger Federer knocking a water bottle off a man's head with his speeding serve… twice… is the latest viral video on YouTube, racking up more than 4 million hits since it was first posted on Monday.
The video, captured on the set of an ad for a Gillette product, has sparked a heated debate online over whether Federer's performance is real or fake.
"We've decided to leave the "real or fake" debate up to the viewers," a Gillette spokesman Michael Norton told ABC News in an email, though he did confirm that video was filmed in "one unbroken take."
Even if it is real, it still begs the question — was the "behind the scenes" video intended as an ad from the start?
Gillette's parent company, Procter & Gamble, has certainly shown its willingness to harness social media. P&G brand "Old Spice" got plenty of attention earlier this summer for viral ads featuring their character, the towel-clad Old Spice man.
Actor Isaiah Mustafah recorded over 150 personalized YouTube responses in character to people's questions on Twitter. Click here to watch the World News Conversation with Mustafa from July.
Norton said that different advertising agencies were responsible for the Federer and Old Spice campaigns.
So what do you think? Were Federer's shots real or fake? Weigh in below!
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Having played pro tennis, I can tell you that it is likely that Fed could make this shot (he’s not far and he doesn’t hit the ball that hard) BUT, I doubt it’s real as I don’t think he would take the chance of hitting this guy.
Posted by: TennisPlayer | August 19, 2010, 12:07 am 12:07 am
As good as Federer is, you think a guy with common sense will trust Federer to make that shot twice? And you think Federer is willing to open himself up to lawsuits by the guy if he missed and permanently blinded the guy?
But the Federer fan boys and girls will swear that it is real.
Posted by: another TennisPlayer | August 19, 2010, 3:43 am 3:43 am
Who really cares whether it’s real or fake – it’s fun and memorable!!
Posted by: #1FedFan | August 19, 2010, 8:26 am 8:26 am
Well, I think there are TWO distinct possibilities, here:
1) It’s real, or
2) It’s fake.
Now, others may claim that there might be other factors, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it’s one of the two scenarios I’ve outlined.
Posted by: Aaron | August 20, 2010, 2:02 pm 2:02 pm
Not! It is real; and it is fake. There are no distinctions. So, there are infinite probabilities over the sum of histories.
Posted by: david | August 20, 2010, 3:02 pm 3:02 pm
Awesome…it is real if you want to believe it, and fake if you don’t ..whatever…it is awesome
Posted by: janet ramsos | August 20, 2010, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
The poll says, “Do you think Roger Federer’s shot is real or movie magic?”. And you can answer yes or no…
Posted by: Brian | August 20, 2010, 4:52 pm 4:52 pm
not real. If he’d hit that guy in the face, given him a black eye or broken his nose, it would have been public relations suicide. His handlers would never have let him. If it was taped while he was in a tee shirt, having beers with friends and did this, i might believe that.
Posted by: greg | August 20, 2010, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm
I don’t care if it is real or fake but like the trickshots
Posted by: Ninfa Dechavez | August 21, 2010, 6:30 am 6:30 am
I would have thought that a news organization like ABC’s would be able to phrase a question better than this. There is no logical yes or no answer… is this the same journalistic excellence that is applied to political polls? …I’m just sayin’
Posted by: Paul Bridson | August 21, 2010, 6:13 pm 6:13 pm
“We’ve decided to leave the “real or fake” debate up to the viewers,” a Gillette spokesman Michael Norton.
Gives it away right there. If it was real, they’d have said so.
Posted by: JaylahPriest | August 22, 2010, 12:11 am 12:11 am
This is a non-discussion — of course, Fed did not take a chance of making the perfect shot to knock the
bottle off the guy’s head.
The comment he makes after to the guy is, “you OK” and gets a nod OK — seems a set up to make it appear it shot was real.
Also, as other have stated, dumb phrasing of a yes or no question; this further invalidates a meaningless poll. Yes or no to a question that can’t be answered yes or no?? Amazing geniuses working for ABC.
Posted by: PC | August 22, 2010, 10:58 pm 10:58 pm
Who cares…Federer is so darn cute.
Posted by: carol | August 22, 2010, 11:32 pm 11:32 pm
Everything going on seemed so natural, I believe it really happened.
Posted by: Donald | August 23, 2010, 2:08 am 2:08 am
anyone thought of the possibility that there could be glass protecting the guy that we cant see ? like in Indiana Jones when he was in the pit of snakes?
Posted by: PH | August 23, 2010, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
No. I don’t think it’s real. It’s a camera trick. And it was done in one take! Yeah right! The only other commercial I could relate to that which I consider real was his Nike ad when he was bouncing the golf ball off his driver several times before hitting his drive. That one was authentic.
Posted by: Michael Roque | August 23, 2010, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
I am not questioning whether the tennis player can make this trick shot or not, but i have a gut feeling that the video was created for viral purposes. If this was a photoshoot, why would they use the logo pattern backdrop often used in red carpets, and not use the huge curved background which they hired the studio for. The lighting setup looks really cramped together for such a large space.
Posted by: k | September 16, 2010, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm