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As far as marketing gimmicks go, this is pretty cool.
To promote its toaster strudel (now there’s five words I didn’t think I’d be writing, ever), Pillsbury hired Isao Machii, a master of the Japanese martial art iaido, to play Fruit Ninja in real life. Earlier this month at The Grove, an outdoor mall in Los Angeles, Machii sliced watermelons, bananas, lemons and, of course, strudel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRdReKiOJ8c&feature=youtu.be
The stunt had the official blessing of Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick, which is reportedly getting ready to announce a sequel to the Xbox Kinect version of the game. Pillsbury is just one of many who have attempted to recreate Fruit Ninja in real life, though.
In late 2012, actor Christian Busath and director Scott Winn notched a huge YouTube hit with a Fruit Ninja remake set, for some inexplicable reason, to dubstep music. To date, it has been viewed nearly 27 million times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-llZmPPNwU
YouTube celebrity Ryan Higa took his own stab (slice?) at the idea a few months later. Things did not go as planned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QqLtDa8a7I
Perhaps learning from Higa & co.’s mistakes, or possibly just realizing that swords are obviously dangerous and not toys, some wannabe ninjas have skipped the weaponry. Last year, a group of kung-fu practitioners took to Australia’s Got Talent to destroy some fruit live onstage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4JzOHzPdZ0
And what the hell, it’s Friday. Here’s one more: Earlier this year, Rooster Teeth’s Web show Immersion — sort of like Mythbusters for the weird stuff that happens in videogames — threw a bunch of fruit at its untrained stars, with predictable results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs_aXfILQus
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
