About

I Saw A Guy Do This In A Toothpaste Ad Once refers to an exploitable scene from a 1964 Looney Tunes cartoon where Bugs Bunny says the phrase and then splashes a bucket of ice-cold water on the ground in front of him, which instantly freezes into a wall, followed by Daffy Duck coming down a mountain on skis and slamming into it. The scene became the increased subject of meme edits in late 2020, becoming popularized in late 2021.

Origin

On May 16th, 1964, a Looney Tunes cartoon^[1] titled "The Iceman Ducketh" aired in the U.S. In the cartoon, Daffy Duck learns that a trading post is paying high prices for furs, inspiring him to hunt down Bugs Bunny for his fur. In one scene, Bugs Bunny scoops a bucket of ice water from a lake and says, "I saw a guy do this in a toothpaste ad once," then pours the bucket out in front of him, instantly creating an ice wall. Daffy Duck flies down a hill on skis holding a gun and slams into it, his beak penetrating through the ice (shown below). The scene was uploaded to YouTube on August 18th, 2020, gaining over 4.1 million views in a year (shown below).^[2]

The earliest edit of the scene was posted to YouTube on August 18th, 2020, which added sound effects throughout, including a groaning sound when Daffy hits the ice wall, gaining over 2,000 views in a year (shown below).^[3]

It has been hypothesized that the scene is referencing an advertisement for Colgate Dental Cream in which tooth decay and bad breath are seen bouncing off of an "invisible protective shield" to demonstrate how the product works, although this is unconfirmed (shown below). At one point in the ad, a person throws a football at the ad's host and it bounces away from him as if hitting an invisible wall.

Spread

In November 2021, the video became a frequent source of edits. On November 15th, animator catsticks_ posted an original animation to YouTube^[4] and Instagram^[5] using the audio from the clip, showing Bugs brandishing a gun at Daffy, gaining over 6,800 views on the former in two weeks (shown below).

On November 24th, 2021, YouTuber^[6] A Funny Man Indeed edited the video to include the Taco Bell Bong sound effect when Daffy hits the ice, gaining over 7,800 views in a week (shown below, left). On November 28th, YouTuber^[7] Bigblue posted an edit where Daffy gets highly distorted when he hits the ice, gaining over 20,000 views in three days (shown below, right). On the same day, the original clip was uploaded to TikTok,^[7] gaining over 20,000 views in the same span of time.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References