Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Turn Up The Noise, Turn Up The Bok

"I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called, "brightness," but that doesn't work."

-Unknown

A couple weeks ago Patrick, wrote an entry titled, "What's You TV Gripe." At the time I read it I didn't really have any particular gripe about TV. I have been a constant viewer of all things TV since I was a child. Granted, over the years my taste in programming has definitely changed more then once. Just last week I was speaking with my therapist, Sarah, about this very subject. When I was a little girl, I LOVED watching 6o Minutes. Yes, while other children were glued to their seats watching, The Wonderful World Of Disney," I was watching, in-depth reports by Morley Safer about corporate greed or marveling at the "Point/Counterpoint" debates of James J. Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander. Heck, all noise would have to stop at the end of the show when Andy Rooney would share his musing of the week. I was a weird kid. Actually, it all came from the desire to understand the world. See, it was difficult in my house when I was a little girl, so I watched things other children didn't, to seek answers to the deep questions I had. I didn't spend all my time on the evening news, and news magazine programs, in fact, some of my favorite moments on TV didn't come from regularly programmed network shows...nope...I loved commercials.

For the most part, I found commercials to be funny. Sometimes, even most the serious ones, seemed to have an amusing tone to them. Like the Kleenex commercials, which at times, could make my cry. How's that for irony? LOL. And I ask you, who could forget the hysterical, "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is," of Alka-Seltzer? LOL. Or the Oscar Meyer boy sitting on the dock, discussing his love of bologna, in lyric verse. Who says television isn't educational? I learned how to spell B-O-L-O-G-N-A from that commercial. LOL. So, ok, now we have firmly established the fact that I have always been a commercial geek, it should be said that once in a while, I do have a gripe.

Does anyone else find the fairly new Burger King, "Bucking Chicken" commercial to be hysterical, and yet slightly annoying? I laughed my butt off the first time I saw it. I mean after all, it was one or more guys, in a giant chicken suit, with a cowboy riding on it's back, trying to keep the chicken from bucking him off. LOL. The thought of a pissed off giant chicken is too funny, although it does leave one with a slightly spooked feeling when that commercial is followed by a news report on Bird Flu. Between Mad Cow disease, and Bird Flu it gives one the feeling that maybe we would be better off if we stopped pissing off the animals. Sigh.

I guess the thing that disturbs me the most about the "Bucking Chicken" is the phrase, "Bucking Chicken." See, it's a little too close to...ummm...well..."(Profanity) Chicken." Sorry, but a pet peeve of mine is when people, especially adult people, say something like, "the F word," as if saying it out loud will somehow cause me to swoon, get the vapors or otherwise turn inside out, if they said the, "F word." I am pretty much going to hear that particular word in my brain anyway...so what's the point in tip-toeing around the subject? Adults should just be adults and find a word that wouldn't cause someone to be offended. Still, at times, such as when quoting someone else, one will find themselves using a term they wouldn't otherwise. It happens.

I don't know, I don't curse very often, but once in a great while something, not so nice, will come flying out of my mouth. It only happens when I either fall off my chair at the therapists office, or when I have come out of a public bathroom with my skirt tucked down in my under-roos. There is just no good time to pull one's dress out of the bum. LOL. So, anything that might tempt me to use unfortunate words, I find a bit annoying, like the phrase, "Bucking Chicken." Oh well, in the grand scheme of things, it is a minor annoyance, I am no big fan of Burger King anyway, and at least it isn't as weird as the sponge monkeys from the Quiznos commercials. Now my favorite commercials at the moment, are for Travelocity, which features the Gnome. I love watching him being blowing up, or getting electrocuted. LOL. I can't help it, garden gnomes give me the wiggins. They have ever since I had that freaky gnome in my back yard that I swear was tripping me. LOL. Of course, that was more about me then him. LOL.

Ok, your turn, tell me what your favorite/least favorite commercials are. Do you have an absolute favorite of all time? Do you enjoy watching Retromercials?

-OndineMonet
"The Chicken"
Half Moon Bay, California
October 24th, 2005
Afternoon

6 comments:

DesLily said...

yep.. I like the Aflac commercials.. i do enjoy the "duck" but also in most of it's commercials there is this one black man (who never speaks) but has the greatest expressions when he see's that duck lol.. I look for him each time a new Aflac commercial comes out!

as for an "awww" commercial the budweiser one with the young Clydsdale "pulls the wagon" (but not really hehe) very creative and filmed really well.. seems like as much effort went into that commercial as making a short movie.

(thanks again for our email "chat" lol)

Cindy said...

i like the gecko speaking with his australian accent for geico insurance (not sure if that's nationwide) and lately all i can think of that's cool is the propel fitness water commercials where a drop of water turns into a person. ingenious. lately i've been resting my eyes (or doing dishes) during commercials. tv has been losing appeal over the past year for me...

Dave said...

Metaphysical television. LOL! I love you, Carly!

My pet peeve was a few months ago...the Motorola commercial where the guy's friend is in the office watching the video of his friend's wife doing a strip-tease on his phone. Commercials frequently provide a sad commentary on where we are as a society, you think?

I hope your week is blessed!!

Globetrotter said...

I love that chicken pic!

You are as weird as I was as a child. I also loved commercials and used to create my own toothpaste commercials in front of the bathroom mirror as a diversion from homework.

I didn't watch 60 minutes though. You must be way younger than me 'cause I can't remember watching 60 minutes until I was well into middle age!

I hardly ever watch TV, (as we've discussed before) so some of the commercials you have mentioned sound quite hilarious but news to me.

I will say that I am slightly disturbed by the latest Volvo commercials. I think my hubby and I have owned about 6 or 7 Volvos during our married life and we loved them dearly until the company changed hands.

The first time I saw the Volvo commercial I didn't realize it was a commercial and I became very, very worried.

What does that say about trust in corporate Amercia?

Great thought-provoking post as always, darlin' :):)

Maryanne

Patrick said...

I can't really think of a favorite "recent" commercial. Normally, I fast-forward through them whenever possible!

I'm a big classic commercials buff, so Mikey eating the Life Cereal and Coca Cola wanting to teach the world to sing and the like are favorites of mine.

Locally, no ads are more annoying than car dealer spots, but I think that's true no matter what market we're in. There's either a general lack of creativity in that kind of spot, or the creativity that is attempted falls flatter than a pancake!

But when I'm watching TV Land and they throw a "retromercial" into the mix, I'll stop and watch every time!

Karen Funk Blocher said...

I hate that chicken commercial. The whole thing seem designed around the word "bucking," as if they think they're cleverly getting away with something. It isn't clever, and I'm not impressed.

K.