For the past three or more years, I have subscribed to MLB.com TV, which allows me to watch any major league baseball game, either in real time or after they´ve been played. In the U.S. there are market blackouts on live games, but I don't have that problem in Brasil.
When I first started watching games this way, the intervals between half innings were usually just dead time, with an MLB logo and a printed message saying that the game was in a commercial break. But there came to be more and more more advertisements, so that today most of that interval is filled with boring commercials.
One of the ads I've seen several times this year is one that supposedly celebrates "the American spirit." It has generic images that suggest excitement and adventure while an insipid voice over drones on and on. Frankly, the only image I remember is a still shot of a motorcycle, and I don't remember a word of the mindless drivel. The point is that, as you listen to this schlock, you begin to wonder what in the hell is this commercial pushing. At the end you learn, as a hand slaps down a bottle of Jack Daniels and the voice says something again about the American spirit.
After seeing this ad about a dozen times (the ads repeat even more frequently than the ads do during sports events on TV), the inappropriateness of it struck me. What the hell can Jack Daniels do to enhance the enjoyment of life as represented by the images I've just seen? I thought, this romanticization of alcohol should not be allowed. And then I remembered, it isn't allowed on TV or radio. It is just that the booze industry figured out what regulators and legislators haven't...there is another medium out there for us to use.
At least the motorcycle was a still shot without a rider anywhere to be seen. That tells you the corporate lawyers were involved in the production; you can imagine what the ad men wanted.
And, mind you, I had these crystal clear thoughts about the evils of booze after having downed a fair amount of vodka. Thank gawd I don't own a motorcycle.
2 comments:
I have been begging for a sea-foam green Vespa with matching helmut, but my wife won't give one to me. I want to smoke a cigar and ride it when looooooooaaaaaaded with vodka. No olives.
I´d say that wife of yours doesn´t understand the true American spirit. But forget the vodka; have a Jack Daniels. Definitely no olives.
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