If blogging is about anything it's about observation and perspective, right? So here's a quick observation: When did it become acceptable - nay, encouraged - to include excrement in TV commercials.
As someone who dabbles in advertising, there's a short list of things I stay away from: Incest, racism, erection humor, and most body functions. Aside from sounding like a bad business practice, it also seems to go completely contrary to what I want people to think about me and the place I work.
Apparently I'm way off base. Case in point: I saw a Red Bull commercial tonight where a cartoon bird poops and a cartoon man. Not so bad. Then the man drinks Red Bull, gets wings, flies above the bird and undoes his belt. The implication, of course, is that he's going to pinch a loaf on the bird. That's right, give that pigeon the old Cleveland Steamer. Hey, I'm thirsty and lethargic, it's Red Bull Time!
Another one. Slate detailed quite well a commercial which pulls a page from the Austin Powers book and has a construction worker walking around a site talking about fiber. As he does, bricks, beams, concrete and other construction site regulars appear behind this poor actor as if they're coming straight out of his small intestine. In other words, he appears to be pooping bricks as he talks about fiber. Sweet Jesus.
One more. This one's slightly less innocuous, but still something else. There's a commercial for a minivan, and this particular minivan boasts a removable seat. The best way to demonstrate this seat? Show a kid who really needs to piss looking longingly out the window as other kids play in sprinklers, fountains erupt and water drips from a dewy branch. Then show him leaping out of the back seat and running into a filthy gas station restroom to relieve himself. The Chevy Pisser...Goes Fast! Or the Pontica Urinata...Bigger and Bladder.
I don't want to blow this out of proportion, but it says something about the culture, doesn't it? Shitting on birds to sell something? I don't care what demo you're in, that stinks.
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