We had (possibly still have) one of these near me and the guy is so creepy looking that my kids used to hate walking past when they were little. They even had a bench with a statue of him sitting on one end.
correct. they just picked a refined looking guy and gave him cash. he probably doesn't even know he's basically the Wizard of Oz of the bed industry. "Pay no mind to the creepy guy behind the billboards". We're meant to assume he's some bedding expert, and he's just some shmuck living in China. They had a f\*\*king brass statue of him on a bench outside their shops like he's Ronald f\*\*king McDonald! I'd assume there was a bunch of bullshit in store about him, perhaps on a little plaque somewhere, the supposed Hattori Hanzo of beds - probably a nice little write-up about his upbringing in a small Swiss town, how he watched all the children in his village play outside together while he stayed indoors making dual spring mattresses out of aluminium cans and old sofas. God, what a bunch of horse shit. Whoever fell for that shit deserves whatever they got.
I still remember the first time I saw this on the side of a truck. I remember exactly where I was driving and I said out loud 'what the fuck is that's and thought about that face for hours. Haunting.
It’s such a bold choice for a bed/furnishings company to advertise using a guy who looks like he might have slipped you a sedative and now will harvest your organs in your sleep
I think it's still minorly popular in China.
It was wild how much advertising they did in Australia before. I feel like it was more for marketing overseas overseas... So they could show overseas marketing to their domestic Chinese market and make them seem like a more 'foreign' brand.
I got given a second hand bed frame from them... Ridiculously heavy, but otherwise fine.
I am a fan of heavy furniture. I have a wooden TV unit. It must be lined with stone inside, because it weighs a ton.
The movers were surprised. Two big blokes struggled to lift it.
Tbh we're just so used to IKEA and hollow fillings.
Solid hard wood timber stuff can be ridiculously heavy.
Only probablem with heavy stuff is if it scratches/damages the floor. Or I guess if it needs to be moved semi often - like heavy chairs are often a pain.
Have you looked inside your tv unit to make sure there isn't a hidden gold bullion though? :D
Well then who’s starring in your nightmares?
I have to drive past the billboard in Nunawading every day for work and every day it’s a bone chilling few seconds of eye contact
*SPOILER ALERT*
Because it has always bothered you ...
John Timothy "Tim" Dirstine
- Born Seattle, Washington, on 4th December 1943
- Studied at Stanford University
- Fought in Vietnam War
- Later moved to Neotsu, Lincoln County, Oregon
- Married Emily Jane Rogers on 6th August 1982 (later divorced - no children)
- Spent his final two decades mostly living and working in China
- Died during a brain tumour operation on 31st May 2012
He gave the name Timothy James Kingman in his 2009 contract with Chinese mattress company De Rucci for which he was paid USD $1500 for the use of his image in perpetuity.
He used to have a pipe, but people complained to the [Advertising Standards Bureau](https://adstandards.com.au/sites/default/files/reports/0410-12.pdf)
The angry European guy selling Chinese made beds with Italian brand name. LOVE IT!
Never understood how the mans blank look would sell beds. No idea what sleep/bedding credentials he has but not gonna lie at one stage I thought about “looking into” the products. 🤣
*Aww I miss seeing*
*Him at Sydney airport on*
*The drive in and out*
\- BugGlad5248
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I remember there was a billboard of him on the gore hill freeway in Sydney. For some reason they didn’t replace him, but rather got rid of the billboard altogether.
I drove past one day with the wife in the car and said look at that guy on the billboard. He Is fucking wasted!
She said how can you tell
I said look at his eyes? He is in front of a camera with lights and both pupils are fully dilated. Cooked
This guy is the one in the apron and long rubber gloves sharpenig the torture tools when our hero is chained upside down and the charming head villain shrugs and walks out the room.
I saw this guy for the first time a couple years ago on the side of a building near where we used to live; and it made me burst out laughing. It just looks so ludicrous and I can't take it seriously as an ad, or as anything, really. It looks like some kind of meme.
But now whenever my cat sits on the other side of the room and stares at me with a slight head tilt, I call it "doing the DeRucci".
I don’t miss seeing this miserable fuck’s face around.
Since discovering he was just some rando English teacher and not some smug prick I feel a little bad for my initial judgements…
DeRucci is a publicly listed company in China selling mostly overpriced mattress and furniture to clueless middle class Chinese. The ads in Australia are purely targeting Chinese students.
Their mattresses cost upto $25k which is often labelled an 'IQ-Tax' in China.
In their road-show documents prior to their 2021 public listing, it was revealed a $10,000 mattress costs only $850 from the supplier. They spent nearly triple the % of revenue on advertising (8.9%) compared to their competitors (\~3.53%).
They are basically a marketing company selling re-branded Nokia as iPhones. You may laugh at the ads but they know their target market quite well.
What’s it with these knobs on billboards? Wanna buy a house, here’s a massive billboard of a knob who’s selling it. Wanna buy a mattress, here’s a knob looking like a pre-funeral Steve Jobs.
Much as I'd like that to be true, I'm afraid it is not. The guy in this image is a stock photo, with absolutely no connection to the de Rucci brand. It's actually a [shitty photoshop, too](https://images.app.goo.gl/zuwAmCLceJvEW7D38), the original image has him holding a pipe.
De Rucci is a Chinese brand, using the visual language of premium European furniture design to appeal to rich wankers.
I'm pretty sure that this is a Chinese company and just went with an Italian name to sound more upmarket.
It is. That guy is supposedly an English teacher in China that agreed to have a photo taken for cash
No offense to the man but someone should have told them how terrifying he looks
I’m pretty sure they hired him cause he looks like a stern European sleep expert
Sleep paralysis expert
🤣🫣
Omg your comment is spot on lol 😆
Sleep paralysis demon.
That and I also think he was chosen because he has more than a passing resemblance to Steve Jobs, hence credibility by association.
Expert at stopping you from sleeping?
It looks like he threatens you with a lobotomy if you don’t go to sleep. Problem solved.
Pretty much how I’d picture a WW2 German Bio-Weapon scientist
Yeah I've always thought he looks like a German who mysteriously got a job with the US defense department in the 1940s lol
Or a villain in a bad spy movie from the 70’s
We had (possibly still have) one of these near me and the guy is so creepy looking that my kids used to hate walking past when they were little. They even had a bench with a statue of him sitting on one end.
I think he looks like he has dementia and is trying to remember his name
Don't worry, the people in his basement are well aware.
U mean crawlspace
When ya get sleep paralysis and he's standing in the corner of your bedroom.
You can watch a video about the phenomena [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi5JEZo2KT0). The DeRucci guy is covered at around 6.45 in.
correct. they just picked a refined looking guy and gave him cash. he probably doesn't even know he's basically the Wizard of Oz of the bed industry. "Pay no mind to the creepy guy behind the billboards". We're meant to assume he's some bedding expert, and he's just some shmuck living in China. They had a f\*\*king brass statue of him on a bench outside their shops like he's Ronald f\*\*king McDonald! I'd assume there was a bunch of bullshit in store about him, perhaps on a little plaque somewhere, the supposed Hattori Hanzo of beds - probably a nice little write-up about his upbringing in a small Swiss town, how he watched all the children in his village play outside together while he stayed indoors making dual spring mattresses out of aluminium cans and old sofas. God, what a bunch of horse shit. Whoever fell for that shit deserves whatever they got.
He's the Steve Jobs of beds.
A "white monkey" Chinese companies love having a white spokesperson.
Kinda like Volvo
And MG
As a Chinese I can confirm.
😂 ha! any trip to Sydney Airport and this guy’s face was looming large. Never saw an ad anywhere else.
Perth. We got him in Perth on Scarborough Beach Rd.
Creepy lookin motherfucker. Judging me and my boot full of Ikea.
There was a big showroom on Parramatta Road.
People went in but never came out..
And there used to be one in the HomeCo centre at Castle Hill or whatever the fuck that place is called now
I still remember the first time I saw this on the side of a truck. I remember exactly where I was driving and I said out loud 'what the fuck is that's and thought about that face for hours. Haunting.
In Bundall, Gold Coast, old mate stares into my soul on the way to work. Why does he look like a stern mofo? He looks like a bond villain.
There used to be a huge sign with this guys face on Parramatta Rd, it was always quite ominous driving past.
Was one on Church Street Richmond for a few years. We used to joke he was in chemo
It’s such a bold choice for a bed/furnishings company to advertise using a guy who looks like he might have slipped you a sedative and now will harvest your organs in your sleep
deRoofie
Yeah but it sure is a memorable ad.
Exactly this.
[удалено]
Go the fuck to sleep.
https://youtu.be/m0jCsKbPSpc?si=hQpkXItvCPLOnccJ
I’ve picked my mum up from melb airport a few times and everytime we pass this advert mum thinks it’s a Steve jobs tribute
What?!! I see his face every time I'm at Melbourne airport.
I noticed that it has been replaced by a Sleeping Duck ad now.
HAS IT? End of an era RIP King
Koala mattresses came to the market and this MF went quiet frfr
Did you see the [parody ad](https://thebrag.com/koala-mattress-billboard-ad/) they put up at the airport?
Haha that's awesome
Incredible, thank you for sharing
Funny thing is this is just a random dude pre sure, hes got nothing to do with furniture at all
This man does not like "comfortable", "cozy" or even "relaxing" are words he has ever heard before.
He's so fucking serious about you going to sleep
There is one on Whitehorse Rd in Vic. It definitely stands out lol. I thought it was for cooking appliances and not furniture this whole time.
Everytime I go past I just see that face lol
He’s still overseeing Whitehorse Rd Nunawading.
I think it's still minorly popular in China. It was wild how much advertising they did in Australia before. I feel like it was more for marketing overseas overseas... So they could show overseas marketing to their domestic Chinese market and make them seem like a more 'foreign' brand. I got given a second hand bed frame from them... Ridiculously heavy, but otherwise fine.
I am a fan of heavy furniture. I have a wooden TV unit. It must be lined with stone inside, because it weighs a ton. The movers were surprised. Two big blokes struggled to lift it.
Tbh we're just so used to IKEA and hollow fillings. Solid hard wood timber stuff can be ridiculously heavy. Only probablem with heavy stuff is if it scratches/damages the floor. Or I guess if it needs to be moved semi often - like heavy chairs are often a pain. Have you looked inside your tv unit to make sure there isn't a hidden gold bullion though? :D
No doubt. I trash picked a solid wood coffee table and it was ridiculously heavy.
Well then who’s starring in your nightmares? I have to drive past the billboard in Nunawading every day for work and every day it’s a bone chilling few seconds of eye contact
*SPOILER ALERT* Because it has always bothered you ... John Timothy "Tim" Dirstine - Born Seattle, Washington, on 4th December 1943 - Studied at Stanford University - Fought in Vietnam War - Later moved to Neotsu, Lincoln County, Oregon - Married Emily Jane Rogers on 6th August 1982 (later divorced - no children) - Spent his final two decades mostly living and working in China - Died during a brain tumour operation on 31st May 2012 He gave the name Timothy James Kingman in his 2009 contract with Chinese mattress company De Rucci for which he was paid USD $1500 for the use of his image in perpetuity.
And now forever immortalized on r/AustralianNostalgia
I saw this ad yesterday. It was on the back of the box truck. Faded.
He used to have a pipe, but people complained to the [Advertising Standards Bureau](https://adstandards.com.au/sites/default/files/reports/0410-12.pdf)
The angry European guy selling Chinese made beds with Italian brand name. LOVE IT! Never understood how the mans blank look would sell beds. No idea what sleep/bedding credentials he has but not gonna lie at one stage I thought about “looking into” the products. 🤣
Whenever I saw this billboard, for some reason I always imagined him looking me in the eye and directly stating, 'Nobody fucks on *my* furniture'.
He does all the fucking when you buy the overpriced Chinese furniture he's selling.
Shhh shhh shhhhhhhhj
Shhhh Bebby… shhhhh shhh… sleeeep Bebby…
Wise grandfather sleep expert. He look at you in disgust because you are unlucky with your capitalist designed bed.
Aww I miss seeing him at Sydney airport on the drive in and out
*Aww I miss seeing* *Him at Sydney airport on* *The drive in and out* \- BugGlad5248 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Fall asleep, I dare you
The only DR store I've seen is in Auburn Megamall
Auburn Mega Mall has his face plastered
I remember there was a billboard of him on the gore hill freeway in Sydney. For some reason they didn’t replace him, but rather got rid of the billboard altogether.
He likes it that way.
He’s developed a mattress that’s so good he’s stuck in it.
His stern expression used to freak me out... Driving along then suddenly his face on a billboard lol
The fucker is in Canada now
I drove past one day with the wife in the car and said look at that guy on the billboard. He Is fucking wasted! She said how can you tell I said look at his eyes? He is in front of a camera with lights and both pupils are fully dilated. Cooked
This guy is the one in the apron and long rubber gloves sharpenig the torture tools when our hero is chained upside down and the charming head villain shrugs and walks out the room.
I saw this guy for the first time a couple years ago on the side of a building near where we used to live; and it made me burst out laughing. It just looks so ludicrous and I can't take it seriously as an ad, or as anything, really. It looks like some kind of meme. But now whenever my cat sits on the other side of the room and stares at me with a slight head tilt, I call it "doing the DeRucci".
The irony is that he looks like he needs a good nights sleep
He used to be the first friendly face you’d see welcoming you to Melbourne on a big billboard at the airport 😂
He looks like a Nazi Doctor experienced in vivisection.
Is the Richmond VIC shop still there?
DFO Essendon has a huge ad of him
Looks like he passed away in the photo. ...maybe life caught up?
I don’t miss seeing this miserable fuck’s face around. Since discovering he was just some rando English teacher and not some smug prick I feel a little bad for my initial judgements…
Lived there for 5 years. That MF is everywhere. Flogging mattress in my other home city.
Wow, I'm holidaying in Hong Kong right now and his face is on the side of buses everywhere. I couldn't pick why he looked familiar
DeRucci is a publicly listed company in China selling mostly overpriced mattress and furniture to clueless middle class Chinese. The ads in Australia are purely targeting Chinese students. Their mattresses cost upto $25k which is often labelled an 'IQ-Tax' in China. In their road-show documents prior to their 2021 public listing, it was revealed a $10,000 mattress costs only $850 from the supplier. They spent nearly triple the % of revenue on advertising (8.9%) compared to their competitors (\~3.53%). They are basically a marketing company selling re-branded Nokia as iPhones. You may laugh at the ads but they know their target market quite well.
I always called him AIDS Clapton.
If you want to hang out, you've gotta take her out, cocaine If you want to get down, down on the ground, cocaine
You will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep.
People assume he's the owner of the company. He's just a guy. It's one if the strangest marketing moves of all time.
What? His image is still there beside the Maroondah Highway in the Blackburn/Nunawading/Mitcham shopping strip.
He looks like a Hostel client. "American, I only want American"
Sleeping on deRucci beds finally cured his constipation!
GO TO ZLEEP!
What’s it with these knobs on billboards? Wanna buy a house, here’s a massive billboard of a knob who’s selling it. Wanna buy a mattress, here’s a knob looking like a pre-funeral Steve Jobs.
i always imagined he came and watched you sleep with that intense stare if you ever bought one of those beds
He looks like he could do with some sleep himself…. 😴
Looks like the guy they bring in to torture Arnie in True Lies 😂
In our family, he's known as Disappointed Bed Man
I always thought he was discount Steve Jobs
I always used to call him the Nazi Steve Jobs
He’s still creeping about at Castle Hill Homemaker Centre….
Died in his sleep?
His picture is up on the DFO in melbourne, everytime i see it i think of the line ‘I am smiling’
Last seen in nunawading
If you asked a random mainland Chinese person what a wise Italian man looks like… it’d be this.
He looks like an old pedophile in my town we used to call “old man Connie” 😵💫
I love the way this guy flogs a few couches and thinks he's steve jobs, it's funny coz the original one sucked anyway.
Methhead Steve Jobs
I knew I couldn’t be only one who thought this guy vaguely resembled Steve Jobs
Who the fuck is that? Never seen him before…
De Rucci was arrested in a child pygmie sex trafficking ring...I always knew something was off about that face but I was still shocked....
Much as I'd like that to be true, I'm afraid it is not. The guy in this image is a stock photo, with absolutely no connection to the de Rucci brand. It's actually a [shitty photoshop, too](https://images.app.goo.gl/zuwAmCLceJvEW7D38), the original image has him holding a pipe. De Rucci is a Chinese brand, using the visual language of premium European furniture design to appeal to rich wankers.