A remix of Cadbury’s award-winning gorilla advertisement featuring John Farnham instead of the original Phil Collins track has won derision on social media sites since it broke at the weekend.

The remix saw Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney re-edit the original advertisement, by Fallon London, and add in John Farnham’s You’re The Voice, following his return to the public stage at the bushfires Sound Relief concerts.

The original advertisement ran a year and a half ago. It featured an actor in a gorilla suit drumming along to In The Air Tonight. It was viewed online more than six million times. It won Fallon the film grand prix at the Cannes Lions, along with awards at the British Television Advertising Awards, the Advertising Creative Circle Awards, the ANDY Awards, the D&AD Awards, the Clio Awards and the One Show.

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney won the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk account at the beginning of this year. A spokesman for Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney this morning confirmed to Mumbrella that the agency was behind the new version of the ad, but said no-one was available to give any more information as they were in a meeting with Cadbury’s.

Many, although not quite all, of the comments about the remix of the ad on YouTube are negative:

  • This. is. horrendous. They ruined this classic advert, wtf.
  • cadbury is an aussie chocolate??? cadbury is about as aussie as the queen… it was founded in birmingham england…
  • out of sync here and on tv… dismal.
  • cant these stupid aussies come up with there own sh-t already?… put the genesis track back on this ad and try using your brain to come up with sh-t you retard biters… is there anything these halfwits wont try to claim as there own??… i bet they think beer and bbq’s originated from there as well
  • Nah mate we didn’t invent Beer or BBQ’s we just perfected them. Just like you have perfected the moron.
  • EPIC FAIL. bring back phil
  • I’m an Aussie and this is sh-t
  • This truely rocks!!
  • Why can’t we have the UK version? It’s not like we don’t know Phill Collins.
  • rofl..i’m in australia, and the original ad had the genesis track in it…this one is f-cking stupid.
  • Urgh, this ad sucks.

And the reaction on Twitter after the ad aired last night was similar:

  • @antzpantz: They shouldn’t have tried. The defiled a good ad with John Farnham’s ‘You’re the Voice’ … blergh
  • @sunky: Oh Cadbury, you just cheapened the classic ‘drumming gorilla’ advert by syncing it to John Farnham … badly. Drums aren’t in time.
  • @brighita: ummm… why has Cadbury recycled the gorilla ad with John Farnham?
  • Dannixoxo: loves the cadbury gorilla ad.. minus the john farnham voice over.
  • trevoryoung: Why has Cadbury taken the popular gorilla TVC & replaced Phil Collins with Farnham’s Your The Voice? Local fiddling for the hell of it?
  • alanaholmberg: love love LOVE Johnny Farnham but that new Cadbury-Gorrilla-Drumming ad to ‘You’re the Voice’ is rather pathetic (and out of time)
  • gabs_clark: why is the Cadbury Gorilla doing John Farnham? Is that a special down under version? Tragic.
  • JohannaBD: I love the gorilla, but not sure about john farnham!
  • isaacforman: I loved the original but think the Farnham revamp is very lame.
  • jlim74: We were just talking about how crap that is! Even when it’s Phil Collins it’s pointless, but John Farnham just makes it lame!
  • stephenconroy: Are you endorsing the machine-separation, packaging, and devouring of John Farnham? Because I only partially endorse that.
  • PrincessFluffy: John Farnham should be left to quietly stay in retirement
  • Afficionados_HH: i think any vague idea it was ok has now been decimated by farnham.
  • madjick: just witnessed the remake of the Cadbury gorilla Ad … featuring John Farnham… FAIL.
  • nevbetts: Hmmm cadbury gorilla ad redone to Farnham your the voice. Drumming didn’t