Just my take: I don't consider a plate or a pan with JUST Cool Whip (or JUST real whipped cream, for that matter) to be a "real pie." It's got to have at least one of the following underneath: a pie crust of some kind, or filling of some kind (e.g. fruit filling, pudding, etc.) Preferably all three of these ingredients are present, but having at least one of them in addition to the Cool Whip goes some ways to making the pie seem credible. All that being said, while I strongly prefer real pies in general, I'm okay with shaving cream pies in some instances too. I think PieJinx/PiesNextDoor (classic but short-lived WAM producer, gone for over a decade now) did a particularly great job with shaving cream pies, and I am in perpetual awe of The Complete Works of Mrs. Bee, and I believe she and Bigshipper have used a lot more shaving cream pies than anything else over the years.

Yeah, that was the caveat I mentioned. I haven't even grabbed those pics yet, much less posted them! I'll try to do that early next week, last 48 hours have been a bit nuts for obvious reasons...

Mrs Bee: I think you are n to something with the makeup (anti-stick effect)...I've thought of this before 9with my last shoot ; Brandy had a good amount of makeup on (her own) which I think may have been 'repellent' to the KW and /or cream in the pies (I used both homemade/improvised pies and bakery pies....there is a trend away form 'oil-based' makeup (understandable, since its not good for the skin)...but I think the non-oily makeup is actually repellent to oil-based foods; oil tends to stick to oil.

As to what constitutes 'real'...anything that is completely edible (as a 'pie' is a type of food).

what we need is a side by side comparison in a controlled environment.

laboratory conditions.

If we're talking Pie, I think Mostwam have the best ones with their colored pied, (I personally prefer the one without the crusts) I

When they don't want to stick... make 'em stick

I can only go by my experience. I've been producing pie vids for myself since 2010, using a lot of the same models.

Since I gear my shoots to be as model-friendly as possible, it's their choice, since I can get the shaving cream pies to look pretty close to the real thing. I'm into only the humiliation aspect of pies - one mean girl slamming it into the other's face, so for me the type of pie is irrelevant.

There are pros and cons for the girls I work with. The pros for real pies are obvious; they taste good. The cons, however, is they all complain about how long it takes the get real pies out of their hair and the next day, their hair stinks - especially when using anything cream based.

Their choice? Shaving cream pies - every one of them chooses that after being hit with both. One model I work with won't even take custom orders if it's real pies 'cause her total time to make the video isn't worth what the customer is willing to pay.

On my end, the production end, working with real pies is a total nightmare. It sucks. It add 10X's the amount of time to the shoot and adds in expenses. Coverage is hit more miss at best so I stick with shaving cream.

You really need to look at my cake vids sometime then. Exact opposite of what you describe.

https://slapstickstuff.com/Cakes.htm

Have you ever tried shaving sticks? (The idea being that you grate them, then whisk with water.) Personally, I've never had much luck with them, but your team might have the magic knack