Remembering Project Fruitcake

Once a upon a time, we created a fake holiday campaign to turn fruitcake back into America's most-loved wintertime treat. Gone are the days when your neighbor would show up on your doorstep, shivering from the cold, holding that treasured mystery loaf of candied fruit.

Let’s face it: fruitcakes are a thing of the past—or were they ever a thing? They've been the butt of holiday jokes for years, as well as an appropriate gift to relay to someone you don’t quite care to put the effort in for.

So, what if we could rebrand fruitcakes to make them cool? We thought long and hard about this. Basically, a day’s worth of brainstorming. What could be more hilarious than turning something wholesome and traditional into an exotic object of desire?

We decided to put a little "Grinch" in our holiday spirit that year. We came up with a fake advertising campaign for our client, the The National Fruitcake Board. It featured what some might deem mildly insensitive images (spoiler alert) of scantily clad men and women, with fruitcakes replacing their nether regions.

To compliment that, we also came up with a second campaign that would feature the increasingly popular rapper, Drake, front and center. What were some of his lyrics about? You guessed it. "You're a good fruitcake and you know it," one read.

We then gathered some test subjects in a room to present our ideas. They would be the voice of reason for our next moves. Could we pull these campaigns off? What would people think of our ads? Most importantly, what would they think of fruitcake?

 Watch the video and find out for yourself.

Editor’s Note: No fruitcakes were harmed in the making of this video. This stunt was done for purely comical purposes. If you haven’t tried searching already, there is no such thing as The National Fruitcake Board. If there were, surely you would be enjoying a hefty serving of candied cherries and pecans right about now.

Happy Fruitcake.

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Sincerely,

The School of Thought Team