Shaved Eyebrows, Fishing Net, and Slime: Peeling Back the Skin on Slather’s Creepy Sunscreen Spot
SDWM personified the sun and made him a creepy, overbearing villain - voiced by none other than creative director Jess Wheeler - to prove a point.
Jess told LBB the production process was “organic, scrappy and very DIY.”
“The sun started off as a friendly sun but it just kept getting weirder and creepier,” he explained.
“Then I found the voice, which my wife hates and we just kept playing with it until it became funny and engaging.”
The director duo, Will & Sej, who operate under Aunty Donna’s Haven’t You Done Well, brought the previously animated-only sun to life in their latest instalment for the brand.
“We were hooked when we read the script and deck for Slather,” Sej said.
“The raw, unfiltered energy SDWM was aiming for was exactly what excited us. As directors, it was refreshing to see a script that wasn’t afraid to push past conventional boundaries. Slather flipped that formula on its head. It was about comedy first, forging a connection with the audience, and letting the product take a backseat to the chaos.”
Jess added, “It’s funny how the universe kinda just throws things together. We both want to work with each other. It actually started with a different job that’s not out yet, we really enjoyed their energy.”
The practical effects of the spot added to the brand's platform, ‘The Sun is Not Your Friend,’ and were made possible by Tania De Ross from SHARP FX.
“We definitely wanted to push the SFX even harder. We’re talking skin melting off the bone type stuff,” Sej said.
“We finally landed on the sweet spot of exaggerated sunburnt skin, which tonally was in the field of road rash and a facial waxing gone wrong.”
Will added that “less is more”, and using simpler techniques proved more effective.
“This was the element that we knew would make this face melt sing. When we told Tania about this, she did a test with fishing line and slime and it had us in stitches,” Will added.
According to Will & Sej, it’s hard to find an actor willing to shave off half their hair and eyebrows, so Will stepped up, taking on the lead role as a gamer seduced by the sun.
“Watching him was an experience in itself,” Sej said.
“He usually sports a half-shaved head, so transforming him back to ‘normal’ meant carefully fitting a toupee. Then came the real commitment—watching him have his eyebrows shaved off for our grand face-melt shot.”
Building an SPF brand as an agency has provided Jess and the SDWM team with a new perspective on what it means to be the client.
“We have a lot of behavioural and cultural issues in Australia when it comes to the sun,” Jess said. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer, yet lowest rate of sunscreen usage in the world.
“I think we’ve been on an absolute rollercoaster even to just get to this point.” Jess said.
“It feels good to finally put it out and have people resonate with it. Regardless of how commercially successful it may be, it showcases what the agency is capable of. I’m really proud.”
