Okay, so I admit that maybe we've carried the humor a bit too far when we have animated and fictitious characters suggesting our food choices, but the humor is generally cute. For example, the latest ad for Panda Express uses bad black and white photography, as if taken from a surveillance camera, to show two alleged panda's wearing disguises "robbing" a Panda Express of the Thai Cashew Chicken. They are also clever enough to spray paint the surveillance camera! Cute? Yes. Funny? Sort of. Indicative of the content, taste, or value of the product? Not so much.
Ignoring the fact that Panda's generally restrict their diet to two types of bamboo (only occasionally getting a taste of meat), if you are motivated to head out to the nearest Panda Express and buy that yummy looking Thai Cashew Chicken on the advice of how good it is from a couple of bad actors in panda suits, perhaps you might examine where you are receiving other life advice. The GEICO Gecko for your insurance needs? Garfield for your favorite brand of cat food? The Scrubbing Bubbles or Mr. Clean for how to best clean your kitchens bathrooms? How about the Jolly Green Giant for the best and freshest vegetables in the valley? And who could forget Mrs. Butterworth to serve us the best tasting syrup for our waffles and pancakes! There are undoubtedly hundreds more...
The Pillsbury Doughboy
The Michelin Man
Speedy Alka Seltzer
The DairyQueen talking Lips
Tony the Tiger
Farfel the Dog (this may be a bit for the older generation :-))
Cap'n Crunch
The Keebler Elves
Chester Cheetah
The Pink Panther
The Kool Aid Man
Punchy
Add your favorite to the list...
And don't even get me started about the Nasonex animated bee taking animated Nasonex to clear his animated pollen clogged animated sinuses! I mean really! We're talking about taking a prescription strength drug that has as many side effects as benefits...and you want to trust your health to an animated bee!
The point is, we have been taking animated advice for everything from antacid, to insurance, to catfood, to home insulation, to tires and even to drugs. Repeat after me: The next animated commercial I see on TV, see at the movies, or read in a magazine, or other publication, I will examine the ad for true content regarding the product including value, cost, location, size, taste, etc. and not just go buy it because some animated character tells me I should.
Commercial break is over...now back to my regular programming.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I once found myself standing in the cat food aisle being tempted to buy whatever brand it is that has Garfield as it's "spokescat". Came to my senses and stood there laughing at myself that I almost made a purchase based on a cartoon's recommendation.
ReplyDelete