Trips to the supermarket are often uneventful, but that’s certainly not the case when Seth Rogen decides to add his own unique spice to the grocery shopping experience. In a promotional stunt for his new R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party, Rogen uses strategically placed animatronic food to prank shoppers.
After hiding remote-controlled and extremely realistic-looking robotic bread, cantaloupe, and sausage around a New York grocery store, Rogen explains to the camera that the goal is to show that “our food has feelings.” What he doesn’t mention — but we soon find out — is that our food isn’t afraid to go blue to express those feelings. Throughout the video, the actor lends his voice to the produce, employing it to scare, taunt, and converse with unsuspecting customers in hilarious ways.
Inappropriate as the animatronic food is, people generally seem entertained by it — once they get over the initial shock of reaching for produce and having it open its eyes and yell at them. Needless to say, the prank makes for some funny exchanges. Among the best are shoppers taunting the robotic food by eating its “family,” and Rogen complimenting a man with a striking resemblance to Colonel Sanders on his fried chicken.
The promo showcases some of the fun we can expect from Sausage Party. A spoof of CG animated kids’ films, the movie follows a sausage named Frank (voiced by Rogen) and his supermarket friends on an existential journey. His buddies include a bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a taco (Salma Hayek), a bagel (Edward Norton), and more. Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, and David Krumholtz also voice chracters.
Rogen penned the screenplay with his Superbad and Pineapple Express co-writer Evan Goldberg, along with Ariel Shaffir and Kyle Hunter. The comedy flick is directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. Sausage Party hits theaters today.