Got the watch the Carl's Jr. ad that's creating all the fuss. Granted they didn't show it from beginning to end but that ad is so over the top it makes Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" look like Sunday afternoon tea with the vicar, a very high church vicar.
The more I think about it-the whole five or six minutes I've allotted to this particular tempast in a very small teapot-the more I believe the whole thing was deliberate. It pushes every button. If you haven't seen it, you haven't really missed very much. Actually the whole thing looks like a parody of a bad movie.
The company and the ad agency knew going in they'd get far more mileage out of free coverage on the news than they'd ever get from a paid ad placement. As a woman I'm not sure which is worse the blatant sexual exploitation in the ad or the blatant cynicism behind the ad. Actually I think the cynicism is worse. Push the sex button and the watch dog groups and "news" agencies react like Pavlov's dogs with a raw steak. I think I need a shower, a very long shower.
On a more positive note. A couple of knitting projects are done.They just have to be sized. Good thing too, the weather turned warm just as I was ready to finish the largest one. Back to granny squares for awhile.
It's all over but the shouting for the dental work. It'll take awhile to get used to them but that's ok. It's funny, the things I was worried about-loss of taste, that sort of thing, haven't been a problem and the things that didn't even occur to me have. Guess what, if you aren't careful, lowers "float." I haven't been comfortable grinning like an idiot for a long time so I'm making up for lost time. :-)
4 comments:
Since we don't have Carl's Jr. restaurants here, I haven't heard about this, but I think you hit the nail on the head with thinking that the media attention would be more beneficial than the ad. It's very calculated.
Okay....I missed this particular media feeding freny. What's going on? Lisa :-]
We studied about visibility at any cost in literary theory because some groups such as “gays” (a more accepted and accurate term in academia is ,“queer”) needed as much as possible because none existed back in the day. It was amazing all the old movies that had it inserted “queer” subversively. I could not stop laughing when I learned that “Ben Hur” played by Charleton NRA Heston was “queer” foil. HAH! Anyway, I think Carl’s Jr. is trying to use that visibility at all costs but fail to realize the true backlash. Because even though the “average” Fox viewing American is a simpleton, people in general will avoid confusion. With all the current fuss, (btw this is the first I am hearing about it) the average drone will not know who to pledge their loyalty to and simply avoid Carl’s jr. unless of course the temptation of the burger surpasses all loyalty. I do not do Carl’s Jr, for one reason, their fries suck and for two I have always hated their commercials. I have never watched one that did not insult my intelligence. So, if their goal is to have fewer customers, they have one less in me.
Good to hear about the knitting projects.
Being a self-professed rhetorician, it has always amazed me how advertising can manipulate us as a society. Whether it's an ad aimed at getting us to buy the product or an ad aimed at getting us so riled up that all we can do is talk about it -- they've done their job. And then they get to sit back and laugh at the rest of us yahoos who are better trained that B.F. Skinner's mice.
What really worries me is that it's now lapping over into politics and other areas of life -- wanna deflect public attention from what's really going on or really needs work? Just drop a few verbal cherry bombs into a statement or conversation and just sit back and watch the fur fly. While our legislators beat their tom-toms and rattle their sabers, people in this country are still going without food, without decent health insurance, and without decent education. But let's not talk about that -- no! -- let's discuss ad nauseum whether Paris Hilton's new ad should be banned from the airwaves! George Carlin has a great line in his new book: rather than be concerned whether Johnny can read, why aren't we concerned that Johnny isn't questioning what he's read (or heard)?
(I don't recall which comedian said it, but I believe it's true: "Paris Hilton is proof positive that you don't have to be poor to be white trash.")
Post a Comment