A NEW Edinburgh restaurant has left locals tickled with its ingenious movie-themed advertising posters.
Giovanni ‘Gio’ Pia, owner of Gio’s Delivered, is set to open his latest business venture on the busy Slateford Road.
Gearing up for opening, the crafty chef has taken his advertising ventures a step further though, posing as the model in a series of posters parodying blockbuster flicks.
With Gio front and centre on reimagined posters of classics like Goodfellas and The Terminator, Edinburgh locals have praised the business owner for his hilarious attention-grabbing approach.
An image of the new Italian restaurant – which is awaiting a confirmed opening date – shows the windows plastered in three movie-themed posters.
The posters are based on the 1990 gangster movie Goodfellas, Academy Award-winning horror thriller The Silence of the Lambs and 1984 sci-fi classic The Terminator.
However, the creative advertising each comes with a pasta-themed twist as Gio replaces any previous actors as the main character on the parody posters.
The Goodfellas poster – with the movie title reimagined as “Gios” – features the owner three times instead of actors Ray Liotta, Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci who all featured on the original poster.
Gio is dressed in a sharp suit, with Ray Liotta’s famous quote from the opening of the movie parodied with the words: “As far back as I can remember I’ve always wanted to open a restaurant in Slateford. – Gio Pia, Pasta Don.”
The Silence of the Lambs’ poster features a photo of the new owner instead of lead actress Jodie Foster, with a farfalle bow pasta piece cleverly covering his mouth instead of the famous death’s-head hawkmoth that sat atop Foster’s lips on the original poster.
This poster reads “Have a friend for dinner” in white lettering followed by the parodied movie title of: “The Silence of the Linguine.”
Finally, The Terminator poster shows Gio holding a gun instead of bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, dressed in a leather jacket and shades with large white lettering reading: “The Taglia Terminator.”
Below is smaller red lettering that reimagines Arnie’s famous line as: “Pasta la vista baby, or something like that.”
The hilarious advertising posters caught the attention of locals who shared the snap to social media yesterday with the caption: “New restaurant in Slateford. Laughed quite a lot at the one on the left.”
The post has received over 225 likes and more than 35 comments from social media users left chuckling at the marketing.
One user said: “To be fair – the quote on the left window is quite funny, saves it from being a bit cringe.”
Another wrote: “10/10 for piss-taking marketing. Lad obviously knows the audience.”
A third replied: “Off to a strong start. Think that’s near where I used to live, would be a great addition to the area.”
Another commented: “He’s grabbed folks’ attention with the signs – so much so [that] I tried his delivered business. It was good so I was hoping for success for him.”
A fifth added: “Need to eat there next time I’m up.”