The Commercial Decoder Blog is about commercials that annoy
me. Commercials that just cry out for some snarky comment. Usually I make these comments
to my wife, but she is more interested in me being quiet while she watches TV. So I decided to start a blog.
Most of the commercials that annoy me fall into a few distinct
categories; commercials that go off
message, commercials that reinforce the myth of the Generic American
Family, and the whackadoodles.
I'll start with the first. A commercial that goes off message usually has a small gag
at the end that is meant to send the viewer off with a smile, and hopefully go and buy the product. But the gag
usually has an unintended subtext that defeats the whole purpose of the
commercial. The commercial says one thing, and the gag says something else.
Here’s an example. This is one of the current ads for Nestles Butterfinger candy bars. I’ve got nothing against Butterfinger bars. Used to love them as a kid. Them, and Clark bars. Yum. Anyway…click on the video to see what I am talking about.
Butterfinger Commercial by
Pete, a devious cubical dweller distracts his co-worker, Kevin, with a phone call in order to steal his Butterfinger. But Kevin is onto Pete's dastardly scheme, and speed staples the fiend to his cubical wall. Nobody lays a finger on Kevin's Butterfinger!
All well and good. The basic message is that Butterfinger bars are so delicious that people will do anything to get one, or keep one. Sure, it's over the top, but that is what makes the commercial funny, and memorable. So next time you're in the impulse aisle of your local supermarket, you might pick one up.
Now, here comes the kicker. A female co-worker walks by, stops, and says in a bored monotone, "You guys are idiots." It's a funny line to end the commercial with, but look at the unintended message; people who act this way about a candy bar are idiots. Now, do I want to buy something that makes me look like an idiot? (My wife tells me that I don't need any help.)
And once you see one of these self defeating commercials, you'll start seeing them everywhere. You'd think that the ad men working in a fifteen billion dollar industry would know better than to sabotage their own commercials. But I see them night after night. And I kvetch about them, too. Except now, I do it in a blog.
Jim, I agree with you. But in addition, my dislike for this commercial goes a little deeper. The "You Guys Are Idiots" commercial is just one more in a seemingly endless parade of male-bashing seen in commercials and sit-coms. The males in this commercial are, naturally, depicted as buffoons. Personally, I thought the guy's stapler-work was pretty cool. But lest anyone be left with that impression, a woman (and hence necessarily a non-idiot) is shoe-horned into the scene to explicitly state that they are idiots.
ReplyDeleteIf the "male buffoon" were only an occasional character, it could be funny. But men depicted as morons has become such a pervasive advertising gimmick that something has to be done. I did a search using the terms "ad, 'stupid male' " and found a lot of results, including the following excellent column, which includes some of the other offending ads:
http://blog.adw.org/2011/05/cultural-misandry-a-minor-rant-on-the-men-are-stupid-commericals/
Note that some ads depict such hostility toward the male that you have to wonder why the women married them. Nestle, via its Butterfinger "You guys are idiots" commercial, has now happily joined the "Men are Stoopid" club.
Obviously it is destructive to any society when half of its members are denigrated. Our little boys should not be taught that it is acceptable to grow up to be a moron, and that this is all that's expected of them. And our girls shouldn't be taught that, as a general rule, males are idiots, and that it's OK for them to marry an immature buffoon. Judging from the high cost of commercials, these companies must realize that they influence people. So please check out the above web sites and then sign my petition to get Nestle to pull this offensive commercial. Then we'll go after more of them. You can sign at http://www.change.org/petitions/soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9-des-produits-nestl%C3%A9-s-a-vevey-switzerland-pull-their-male-bashing-you-guys-are-idiots-commercial . I've tried to find the ad online to reference in my petition, and your web site seems to be about the only place I can find it.