K-fee

K-fee is a brand of beverage, sold by K-fee AG, a company based in Berlin, Germany. The beverage is also sold by K-fee US Inc., the company's U.S. branch in Largo, Florida.

K-fee "turbodrink" is an energy drink, designed by Richard Radtke and Hubertus Sprungala in Germany. It has a variety of flavors, including chocolate and vanilla. The brand also produces Turbogum, which contains as much caffeine as half a cup of espresso. This gum is toothfriendly, and comes with a sugar-free formula with xylitol.

In January 2006, K-fee released a new brand of their coffee drink called "K-fee to go Latte macchiato" which comes in a plastic bottle and is available in classic and vanilla blend flavors.

K-fee Auto

K-fee television advertisements imitate prank flash animations (also known as screamers) intending to scare the viewer. One such TV ad is known as "K-fee Auto".

The commercial begins with a relaxing scene of a white car driving down a grassy hillside to soothing music. When the car passes behind a large tree, the camera follows. The camera then pans off the tree, but the car is gone. A zombie with a frightening scream then suddenly pops into the scene, scaring the viewer. The commercial fades to black, showing the slogan: "So wach warst du noch nie." (translated "You've never been so awake") and, after some time, shows the product. In the English version of the ad, the slogan reads "Ever been so wide awake?". These adverts are heavily criticized for their content and many feel that the advert is very uncommercial and upsetting, though its shocking visual is built to energize the viewers and keep them alert. On some occasions, a warning message is displayed before the advert plays, informing any young children, individuals who are easily scared and people with heart conditions or autism to not view the footage. When this is not shown, it leaves any individual to be deceived.

The K-fee Web site (also in German; also available in English and Croatian) presents this and its other similar TV ads.

On the Internet, an alternate ending shows: instead of the product and the slogan, the text: "Now...Go Change Your Shorts And Get Back To Work!" appears in a different font/size. Other manifestations of this ad include being sent as part of a chain-mail which supposedly depicts a ghost appearing during the filming of a television ad (sometimes from Great Britain) that never aired; the viewer is instructed to follow the car closely, as a "mist" is supposed to appear next to the car at some point. The "mist", of course, never does appear, and the commercial plays out as described above, much to the chagrin of the viewer.

Other K-fee ads

In the normal ads, only the zombie and gargoyle are used. In all of the commercials, the same scream is used.

Commercials featuring the gargoyle:

* Beach - This depicts two lovers on a beach about to kiss, and just as they do, the gargoyle jumps up screaming from the bottom of the screen, blocking the view.

* Buddha - This depicts a woman meditating near a Buddha statue, when the gargoyle jumps up screaming. His face is so close to the camera that it is out of focus.

* Golf - A man is shown golfing from far away, when the gargoyle appears upside-down and screams.

* Beach 2 - This shows a relaxing scene of a boardwalk near a beach, when the gargoyle appears upside-down and screams.

Commercials featuring the zombie:

* Fishing - This shows a man fishing, and not long afterwards the zombie appears, curiously not looking directly into the camera as he screams.

* Yoga - This shows a person practicing yoga on a cliff, when the zombie seemingly appears out of nowhere, screaming. His face is obscured by the dark.

* Meadow - A view over a field is shown, and the camera stops moving at a certain point. Not long after, the zombie shows up from the left side of the screen and screams.

* Surfing - This is a far away view of a man going to the ocean to go surfing. Then the zombie appears from the right side of the screen and screams. This also seems to use the same footage of the zombie that's used in K-Fee Auto.

Latte macchiato parodies

In January 2006, K-fee released new commercials for their line of Latte macchiato drinks that parodied their own prank flash-style commercials. Using the footage from three of K-fee's most popular commercials (Auto, Beach, and Golf), the company replaced the frightening image of a zombie or gargoyle at the end of the ad with a man in ordinary clothes, a man in a Halloween mask, or a man in a bear mascot costume appearing slowly and saying "boo" or "bwa-ha-ha", followed by the text "Jetzt auch mit weniger Koffein" (which translates as "Now with even less caffeine") and an image of a Latte Macchiato bottle.

Auto

This scene begins with a white car driving down the road, until the car gone, then instead of the scary zombie image, a man in ordinary clothes says "boo" in a gentle voice.

Beach

This begins as the original, but as the two people are about to kiss, a puppet bear pops up with a giggle.

Golf

This also uses a different image in the prank flash, as do the others listed above. In this one, a man in a goblin mask is hiding at the bottom of the screen, but the mask ears can be seen. Soon after he pops up with a soft "Bwa ha ha!"

Free Enterprise Fund Committee commercial

The Free Enterprise Fund Committee made a commercial based on the K-fee commercials. This shows a couple walking across a beach, they eventually stop and just as they are about to kiss, a tiki zombie appears screaming from the right of the screen, blocking the view. The following screens of text then appear: "Think that was scary?" "Liberal Democrats in Congress have plans for $2.4 trillion in higher taxes." "Their plans include $2700 a year in higher taxes for married couples." "Now that's scary."

External links

* [http://www.k-fee.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.k-fee.com/fileadmin/video Commercials]