MTVs Jersey Shore Gives Dove "Evolution" New Life and Shore Props!

So maybe imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery? Scary.

"Evolution" was a mega award winning online advertising effort from Dove created by Ogilvy Toronto, and now has a second life through the art of parody.

Found this video "exclusive" on the FunnyorDie.com website over the weekend, and it already has over 1.5 million views there and another 25,000 views on YouTube. Crazy!

Count Italian-American Alyssa Milano among the non-fans of MTV's new reality "Jersey Shore" Ms Milano has made it clear that she finds the reality series offensive. But that doesn't mean she can't joke about it. The actress filmed this short exclusive for FunnyorDie.com showing her evolution from pretty girl to "guidette" — which "actually looks a lot more like blackface" which is even more offensive.

The weekly show follows the reality (somewhat scripted) booze-fueled nights of eight self-described "guidos" and "guidettes" on the New Jersey shore. The show has outraged Italian-Americans, who claim it exploits a stereotype and gives the vacation destination a bad rap.

Hey I grew up in Ocean City, NJ every summer until I finshed college... and, well if "ya ain't been there" and lived with the charm that is the South Philly "guidos" and "guidettes"... okay I digress. I spent 3 weeks at a shore house last summer and I gotta tell you not much has changed in the 30+ years since I was a "Ute" (youth) living in a shore town.

UNICO National, the nation's largest Italian American service organization, has even asked MTV to cancel the show.

The original Dove spot was created from the budget left over from the earlier Daughters campaign, and was intended to be the first in a series of such online-focused spots. Launched by Unilever brand "Dove" in 2006 as part of its "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty" to promote the newly created Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

The centre of the Unilever campaign is a 75-second spot produced by Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto under the creative direction of the brilliant team of  Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin (both are excellent nurturers of young creative talent). The piece was first displayed online on October 2006, and was later broadcast as a television and cinema spot.

The spot was an absolute critical, pop culture, and financial success. It won a number of awards in the advertising industry, including two Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards. It has been discussed in many mainstream television programs and print publications, and the exposure generated by the spot has been estimated to be worth over $150M.Today on YouTube "Evolution" has more than 3.2 million views.

This is not the first time "Evolution" has been given a parody maleover, it also spawned numerous unofficial alternate versions on YouTube, seen as a opening sequence for the BBC show Ruddy Hell! and the short parody "Slob Evolution", which has gone on to itself be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award and have over 2 million views.