Last month, the director of blockbuster films like Fight Club and The Social Network put out a really weird Xbox commercial that seemed completely random and out of the blue. The David Fincher ad was reminiscent of some of the strange marketing pushes from Xbox and PlayStation in the 2000s that seemed to be competing to see who could make their audiences more confused. Believe it or not, the late, great David Lynch directed a much weirder ad for the PS2 during this era for a campaign titled "The Third Place."

David Lynch will be ed for his unconventional filmography, with a dreamlike style of filmmaking that was one-of-a-kind, and his films, like Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead, redefined the cultural zeitgeist. Sadly, Lynch ed away earlier this year, but his legacy of unique cinema stretches into all corners of society, even into video games. A 2000 advert for PlayStation 2 directed by David Lynch titled "Welcome To The Third Place" was one of a series of unusual commercials for "The Third Place" PS2 campaign, and it's probably the weirdest ad for a major console you'll ever watch.

David Lynch's PlayStation 2 Ad Features A Random Duck & A Deeper Message

The Welcome To The Third Place Ad Is As Lynch As It Gets

As with anything Lynch put his time into, there's probably some esoteric and abstract meaning behind all the surreal details he includes in the "Welcome to the Third Place" PS2 advert. The black-and-white ad was created around the concept of a "Third Place," which subverts a concept typically applied to bars or coffee shops where people meet up and socialize, a concept at the time that hadn't yet been applied to the Internet or social media in any mainstream fashion.

The above video is mistitled as space instead of place, and if you listen to the duck in the actual ad, it definitively says, "Welcome to the third place."

In the early 2000s, a "Third Place" referred to a physical space dedicated to social engagement, a location outside of your "First Place" (home) or "Second Place" (workplace) where you could meet with people and blow off some steam. But in the context of the PlayStation 2 and Lynch's ad, it's a place where "you define what you want to be in it and have around you," at least according to a comment from the campaign's marketing manager in a 2001 issue of the official UK PlayStation 2 magazine (available on the Internet Archive).

David Lynch was deliberately selected for this particular ad, as he was considered the "one person who was really going to produce something that no one had ever seen before." Lynch certainly delivered on originality with the finished product, with Eraserhead vibes, a business duck and a floating head, a doppleganger and a mummy. Everything makes it clear that whatever space this is, the rules are different. As for what any of these things actually mean, your guess is as good as mine, but they'll certainly grab your attention.

David Fincher's "Wake Up" Xbox Ad Isn't So Weird In Hindsight

It's No Mystery Why Big Directors Create Console Adverts

It's been a few weeks since David Fincher released the "Wake Up" commercial for Xbox, which follows a literal rat named Horatio during a metaphorical rat race of routine life. Horatio only becomes human after powering up his Xbox at the end of the day, effectively waking up "the human inside." The heavy-handed Xbox ad shares a strikingly similar message to David Lynch's old PS2 "Third Place" ad, though I doubt there's a direct connection between the two.

"I wouldn't be surprised if these weird commercials start to make a comeback in the coming years."

While these ads might appear random, there's no great mystery why big-name directors would agree to make them: money. "The money's good, and the added bonus is that I get to use and learn about the latest technology," said Lynch on the subject. At the end of the day, I wouldn't be surprised if these weird commercials start to make a comeback in the coming years.

Having a big-name director on an ad is extremely effective in drawing views, which was as true 20 years ago as it is today. Apparently, when it comes to console ads for Xbox and PlayStation, the weirder, the better. David Lynch might have had his own motivations for creating the "Welcome to the Third Place" ad all those years ago, but it will go down in history as one of the strangest PlayStation commercials ever made, despite some undeniably stiff competition.

Sources: PlayStation Magazine/Internet Archive, YouTube (PlayStation Europe, PlayStationGeneration.it, Xbox)