K-fee was a German coffee flavored drink company located in Hamburg, Germany, which closed in 2010.
They became internationally famous for their advertisements, which contain "screamers" in order to simulate the effect their product has on consumers. All nine ads contain footage of relaxing scenery usually set to soothing music, only to be rudely interrupted by a monster (either a zombie or a gargoyle) popping out of nowhere and screaming at the viewer before cutting to the company's logo and slogan. The zombie was played by Brad Johnson, and the gargoyle was played by his brother, Adam Johnson.
The most famous of K-fee's ads is "Auto", which went viral on social networking sites such as YouTube (it's credited as one of the first screamers to gain traction on that site, if not the first) and was even featured on news and media platforms alongside shows like America's Funniest Home Videos, which presented reaction videos of people being frightened by it. Around the time of its first online circulation, the ad often came with a (since-debunked) urban legend claiming that it contains an unintentionally filmed ghostly apparition which freaked out its makers so much that they never aired it.
Tropes in K-fee include:
- Bait-and-Switch:
- The commercials always show a relaxing, or normal scene before the Jump Scare happens.
- K-fee Lite ads were a double bait-and-switch. They start with the same relaxing scenes, but the "jump scares" are things like a cheap Halloween costume, a teddy bear, or a guy saying "boo".
- Blood from the Mouth: The Gargoyle has blood dripping from his fangs down his chin, implying that he bit or ate someone before the events of his commercials take place.
- Death from Above: In "Boardwalk" and "Golf" the Gargoyle Jump Scares the viewer by dropping down from the top of the screen upside down instead of popping up.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The whole point behind the advertisements is to simulate the effects that caffeine has on the drinker, which are the products that the company is making.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: One of the monsters that provides the Jump Scares is a scarred, green-skinned zombie with half of his brain exposed.
- Evil Redhead: The Zombie has a tangled mop of red hair, contrasting with his rotting green skin.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The Zombie and Gargoyle Jump Scare the viewer by screaming directly at them.
- Green and Mean: The Zombie has green skin, and is anything but pleasant.
- Hell Is That Noise: Both the Zombie and Gargoyle share an extremely loud, horrifically shrill screech to catch the viewer off guard.
- Jump Scare: Each ad starts out with relaxing, peaceful scenery, only to be interrupted by either a Zombie or Gargoyle popping up and loudly screaming at the viewer.
- Lighter and Softer: The K-fee Lite ads take a much softer approach, where a goofy-looking guy, a teddy bear, and a man in a cheap devil mask jump out, saying "boo" or making silly noises instead of the actual monsters shrieking at the viewer.
- Looks Like Orlok: The Gargoyle/Batboy has a distinctly vampiric appearance that resembles Count Orlok.
- Nightmare Face: The Zombie and Gargoyle, respectively. Their low-quality appearances in the finalized versions of the commercials make them look even more ghoulish and inhuman.
- Our Gargoyles Rock: The Gargoyle (alternatively referred to as "Batboy") appears to be a fully organic creature instead of an animate stone statue, and lacks the wings and horns of an actual gargoyle. He has pale skin and pointy ears, and his fanged mouth is stained with blood, resembling more of a vampire than a gargoyle.
- Screamer Prank: The ads all start innocently enough, but then have a zombie or gargoyle appear out of nowhere and scream at the viewer.
- Special Effect Failure: Intentionally in the Lite version of the Golf ad. It has an actual monster instead of the normal human or teddy bear of the other Lite ads, but its antennae can be seen at the bottom of the screen even before it's supposed to appear.
- Stock Scream: All nine ads use the same high-pitched male scream, known as "CARTOON, YELL - HUMAN ROAR" from the Series 4000 Hollywood Sound Effects Library, albeit louder and more distorted.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Both the Zombie and Gargoyle aren't seen wearing shirts in the commercials, for whatever reason.
