I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...
... more and more commercials have simply crossed a line and must be called out. I wrote a long time ago about how disturbed I was by the cartoon bear father and son conversation about toilet paper getting stuck in their ass hairs, and that questionable marketing message has been topped by new and even more disturbing images.
Subtle, but still tasteless -- I actually felt dirty after viewing the lady schick commercial that features a woman walking past various shrubbery. As she passes, the overgrown bushes all morph into neat and trimmed landscaping. I think subliminal messaging should be used for good!
Dangerous and tasteless -- Claire Danes, I loved you in Temple Grandin and hope you get the Emmy. But please stop shilling for the miracle eyelash-growing drug that includes this beaut: "permanent discoloration of the pigmentation of your eye may occur".
Hie thee to Skinemax kind of tasteless -- Dear Bare Lifts and Shake Weight advertisers, I do not need to see the quadrant shot of each cup size with one bosom duct taped higher than the other, nor do I appreciate the graphic nature of the action shots you use in your demo for the shakey thing. If I want that kind of titillation (pun fully intended), I'll seek it out in a different delivery channel.
Tasteless in that it is an affront to my intelligence -- Mr. Dyson, your redesigned vacuum cleaner is cute, I'll admit it. But to hear you tell me that I've been under attack by buffeted and choppy air from annoying fan blades for all my life and that you are here to save me just smacks of Wonka level marketing manipulation. I fear if you are not stopped, you will redesign the whole world.
And, in closing, please don't think the irony of this situation is lost on me -- by devoting this space to this rant, the marketers have won. Tastelessness aside, I'm talking about their creations. And, even if their images haunt me, they've won again since they are in my nightmares. In the eternal words of Snidely Whiplash, "Curses, foiled again."
CLAIRE DANES AS TEMPLE GRANDIN:
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2010/02/interview_claire_danes_temple.html
WHY DO CARTOON BEARS NEVER WEAR PANTS?:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HalfDressedCartoonAnimal
SNIDELY WHIPLASH BIO:
http://bullwinkle.toonzone.net/snidely.htm
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