I think I want my Maypo (Burger king part ii).
Creepy wasn't likely to be the only thing I had to say about that
commercial. But for a while over the past few days it seemed hard
to come up with anything that would improve on it. It is
difficult to put your finger on why you feel something is
'creepy', much less to fathom why someone else would think the same thing an
effective merchandising pitch. Slate columnist Seth Stevenson wrote a column on this last week The Return of the King.
I set that aside until I could sketch out a version of my own thoughts
then compared this with his. His approach is a practical one: to
deconstruct the commercial from the standpoint of what Burger King is
trying to do. Presumably this is a well thought-out marketing campaign The
double croissan'wich what they're selling here is what the
food industry calls an indulgent sandwich. Its
on the hard sell end of a market category largely owned by a competitor, especially
in mental geography. Advertising in such cases often will expand the
market but not affect market share. Your ads sell your competitors product. Therefore Burger King needs
something to break you out of any TV reverie you've allowed
yourself to sink into. Whatever does that, works for them. So comes the
marriage of the uncomfortable with the incomprehensible. The iconic big
plastic head, accident or deliberate, relates to past branding
work. Post nostalgic - begging for distance - to be read as ironic.
Offputting, while accomplishing the work of cutting through category
clutter and implanting brand information.
All that only gets you half way there. There is nothing
about that kneeling gargoyle king with its odd exaggerated pantomined
reactions and autonoman puppet aspect that I would immediately judge as
human. Anything you find staring at you silently when you wake up falls
into the category of night visitor. The classic nightmares, burdensome
and oppressive: incubus and succubus, are what suggest
themselves, or something out of Hoffman. In our indulgencey pandering
sovereign, a syncubus, on an errand run of malicious and subducted
eroticism. Offering friendly temptation, pardon from sanction, at a
moment of unguarded tranquility.
I had dreams as a small child that I would wake up to
find my self being watched over by a raggedy ann or raggedy andy doll
who would slip out of sight after a few moments. I didn't have a
raggedy ann or andy doll so this never struck me as being a good thing.
Neither does this king. I suspect that Burger Kings Ad agency passed
through the psychological spectrum (spectreum) on their way to
delivering this message.
Then there is the Subservient Chicken, but that's a whole other diet of worms.
11:16:25 PM  ;;
|
|
