Whassup?

This article is about the advertising campaign. For other uses of the phrase What's up?, seeWhat's up (disambiguation).

Whassup?(also known asWazzup) was acommercialcampaign forBudweiserbeerfrom 1999 to 2002.The first spot aired duringMonday Night Footballon December 20, 1999. The ad campaign ran in much of the world and became apop culturecatchphrase,comicallyslurring"what's up?".

Origins

The commercials were based on theshort filmTruewritten and directed byCharles Stone III,featuring Stone and several of his childhood friends: Fred Thomas, Paul Williams, Terry Williams, Jimmy "Puerto Rock" Perez, and Kevin Lofton. The characters sat around talking on the phone and saying "whassup?" to one another in a comical way. Steve Weinshel from C&C STORM films sent the popular short film to creative directorVinny Warrenand art director Chuck Taylor at the Chicago-based ad agencyDDB.They then presented the concept toAugust Busch IV,vice president ofAnheuser-Busch.Impressed, Busch IV licensed the idea from C&C Storm films and enlisted Stone as the director for Budweiser TV commercials inspired by the film.Scott Martin Brookswon the role of Dookie when Kevin Lofton declined to audition.

Accolades

Whassup?was awarded theCannes Grand Prixaward and theGrand Clio award,among others. The campaign was inducted into theCLIO Hall of Famein May 2006.

Sequels

In 2000, Budweiser created a sequel entitled "Whassup Girlfriend" featuring the original cast, with one member watching a program with his girlfriend when his friends call.

In 2001, duringSuper Bowl XXXV,Budweiser aired two more sequels. One, titled "Whassup Come Home", features an alien who returns to his mothership and is asked what he has learned during his time on Earth, to which he responds, "Whassuuuuuuuuuuup." The other, titled "What Are You Doing?", is a direct parody of the original commercial but instead featuring a cast ofyuppieswho utter the phrase, "What are you doing?" instead of, "Whassup?"

Eight years after it first aired, Stone rebooted the ad, with the same cast, asWassup 2000.The two-minute short film was heavily critical of thepresidency of George W. Bushand was a clear endorsement of the presidential campaign ofBarack Obama.The 2008 video was nominated for the Favorite User Generated Video award at the35th People's Choice Awards.

In 2020 a new ad campaign "Checking in, that's Whassup" was created byVaynerMedia.Social media spots featured friends meeting on an online platform, a common occurrence during theCOVID-19 pandemic.The campaign encouraged viewers to check in with friends, and received a Bronze award from the Clio Sports program.

Cultural influence

The campaign was notably parodied in the 2000 comedy horror filmScary Movie.

WWEtag teamThe Dudley Boyzwould notably use the “Whassup” joke during their “Diving Headbutt” signature move going as far back as 2000.

The campaign phrase “Whassup” is featured prominently as a sample and used in the song그녀를 일으켜라 Get Her UpbyYoo Young-jinfrom his 2001 albumAgape.

The first episode uploaded to theAnnoying OrangeYouTubechannel directly parodies the original commercial, itself a remake of the short filmTrue;the video features the titular orange, a banana "just hanging around, with [its] bud", a lemon taking the role of Fred Thomas, a kiwi taking the role of Dookie (though not the name), and an apple (who gets cut in half towards the end of the video, much to the other fruits' horror) taking the role of Terry Williams. Its direct sequel, "Wasssabi", is a parody of the ad "Wasabi" and stars Orange, Pear, a different lemon, two pieces of sushi, a small blob of wasabi that gets mixed into a bowl of soy sauce towards the end of the video (once again, to the horror of the other foods), and a bottle of paprika that appears at the very end of the video and groans at Orange using the word "paprika" as he did "wasabi"; while the video "Wazzup Blowup" references the campaign's use of telephones, with Orange, Midget Apple, Pear, Marshmallow, Grapefruit, and Grandpa Lemon gradually annoying a corn cob until it explodes into a shower of popcorn. A direct sequel to "Wasssabi", "Wazzup 3: Bonsai Tree", and the video "WazZOOM" also reference the campaign phrase "Wazzup". The video "Wasabi Goatee Party!!!" references the original "Wazzup" video byAnnoying Orange,while the video "FROYOLO!" serves as a spiritual successor; the campaign phrase "Wazzup" remains a staple of the channel, particularly in "Ask Orange" videos.