While I was trying to find the new Lipton Iced Tea commercial with the singing fish—which I have a few things to say about—I ran across another ad that is even more peculiar. This commercial for green tea aired in either Japan or Thailand, which one is unclear.

The humor succeeds quite well here, once you get over being weirded out. The little caterpillars are undeniably cute, and the abrupt stop of the soothing guitar picking at the moment of crisis creates a nice dramatic and comedic emphasis.

I don’t want to pick this apart since analyzing humor always ruins it. But I will say that, though a viewer might just feel like he or she is being entertained, the commercial strategically imparts the message that this brand of tea only uses the very best tea leaves, or the “top tea leaves” as they say. And, if our subconscious reasoning does its job, then we will conclude that since this brand of tea uses the best tea leaves, then it must be the best tea. Just in case your subconscious reasoning fails, they drive the point home with their tagline, “Brewed only from the best.”

I haven’t found the Lipton commercial online, but I’ll keep looking.