<$BlogRSDURL$>

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Wrong on every level!

Has anyone seen the commercial for Popcorn Shrimp at Dairy Queen? It's so disturbing, I don't think I'll ever be the same again. In case you haven't been unlucky enough to catch it, it goes a little something like this: Two cartoon shrimp are enjoying an under-sea snack, when all of a sudden the male shrimp says "Wait a minute! This isn't POPCORN! It's POPCORN SHRIMP!!! AHHHHH!" And if that's not bad enough, then the female shrimp says "Oh my gosh...where are the kids!?! Ahhhhh!" Oh...my...God. My husband and I literally stopped in our tracks, looked at each other and said "What the f**k!?!" Who does this commercial appeal to? Cannibals? Kids who pull the wings off of flies? Geeeez! Nevermind that I wouldn't eat any kind of shrimp on a bet (my personal policy is to eat nothing with an exoskeleton), but even those who LOVE shrimp (my husband for example) have no choice but to be thoroughly repulsed by this weak attempt at humor. Ewwwwww!

A close second in disturbing commercials is the Chips Ahoy commercial where the cookie is sitting happily at a birthday party table wearing a party hat asking "Where's the cake"? And the wicked, souless little girl next to him replies in a creepy voice, "We aren't having cake". The cookie then looks rightfully concerned. Poor cookie! He's all in party mode only to find out he's about to be butchered and devoured by these evil children. Let's save the anthropomorphic qualities for things like scrubbing bubbles and drain cleaners...not our kids afternoon snacks. Am I alone in this? Is it just me? I guess since I ran screaming from the advertising industry years ago I can only now sit on the sidelines and pass judgment. Hey, wait...that's WAY more fun than actually being responsible for the content. Pass the remote, please.

Comments:
You're so right about the Dairy Queen commercial! I saw it yesterday and it was every bit as inappropriate as you say. Here's some free advice for companies: advertising and marketing exist solely to make people want to buy your product. I don't know why that's so difficult for companies to grasp sometimes.
 
Oh, part of the commercial I forget, which really just adds to the whole thing...after he says "It's popcorn shrimp", one of them says "I THOUGHT it tasted familiar!" WHHHHAT?!?!
 
It's time to get a life everyone.
 
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?