You might be one of those people silently convincing themselves that Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) hasn’t lost it, but seeing this clip might change your tune. Corgan’s latest move? Starring in a commercial within a commercial — he’s promoting his pro-wrestling organization while becoming a de facto spokesman for Walter E. Smithe Furniture.
As a reasonably sane third party, we believe that we have some idea of what’s going on here. Corgan and a Smithe brother are playing musical chairs (of course) in a wrestling ring, and when a fight erupts between the two, Corgan summons his cronies from Resistance Pro Wrestling.
They proceed to display the typical machismo and showmanship we’ve come to expect out of this kind of thing, until one of them brings a chair over his head to smash it on a Smithe. Corgan stops him just in time to say, “That’s a Walter E. Smithe chair!” Now that’s advertising at its most effective, especially since it’s not clear exactly what is being advertised until the last seconds.
Of course, this isn’t Corgan’s first rodeo: He starred in another wrestling ad (in which he repurposes his own lyrics to no avail), seen below. According to Pitchfork, he’s also opened up a tea shop in a suburb of Chicago, as well as setting up a puppet-wrestling match. Dude likes tea and wrestling, what can we say?
Check out Corgan’s advertising appearances below:
Walter E. Smithe
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