Having made a name for themselves on the Internet with short, animated musicals lampooning politicians like George Bush and John Kerry, brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis of JibJab.com are taking on big box retailing with a new toon premiering tonight, Oct. 13, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
In Big Box Mart, an unsuspecting consumer learns an economic lesson the hard way when his high-skilled factory job is shipped overseas to accommodate the “everyday low prices” he’s come to expect from his favorite retailer. At the end of the song, the only work he can find is as a janitor at Big Box Mart.
“It’s virtually impossible for small businesses to produce goods in America inexpensively enough to sell to big box retailers,” comments Gregg Spiridellis. “It’s an issue that affects everybody and that’s why we decided to tackle it.”
While their previous animations employed cut-out images of well-known public figures, the Spiridellis brothers decided to cast fans in this latest production. In “Big Box Mart is about bad things happening to real people,” notes Evan Spiridellis. “Thanks to the Internet, we were able to invite our audience to be a part of the production in a way that’s never before been possible. It’s very exciting.”
In September, JibJab posted a casting call and thousands of visitors uploaded their photos. The animators received more than 6,700 images and were able to include 1,000 fan faces in the movie. Michael Fagan of Long Island won the starring role after uploading a webcam photo of himself.”
“There is an incredible opportunity to create a new kind of media company that engages its audience in the fun of the creative process,” says Gregg. “That’s the kind of company we’re trying to build.”
Following its premiere on The Tonight Show, Big Box Mart will be available for download at JibJab.com and MSNVideo.com. JibJab has a number of other productions in the works for launch in the coming months. The next experiment, dubbed “Face Off,” will have thousands of people making silly faces and uploading them to JibJab.com in a competition for prizes.
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