Disturbing Ads and Cheap Trick

I don’t watch a lot of commercial TV – the shows I tend to watch have ratings so low that the commercials could almost address the viewers by name – “Ted Ted? We can’t start until you get here” “Ted’s in the bathroom” “Okay we’ll wait” so I don’t get exposed to the new national ads until a while after they have launched.

The new Sprite commercials don’t make much sense – but that’s edgy advertising I guess. But I find the thought of being smashed in the face with the huge bellies of nearly naked fat men painted green and yellow is profoundly disturbing. Really I think I’ll just stick to gin. Splash of tonic thanks, twist of lime or lemon some ice thanks. Yeah more health problems but that stomach smash thing. Ouch.

Which reminded me of the other ad that had my head in bad place – This tweedy looking guy (tweed jacket beard, hair going back a bit, an English professor mayhap) is on a date which hasn’t gone very well. The woman says “well goodnight” and shuts the door in his face. The Tweedy guy, dispirited and depressed, gets into his car, reaches into the glove compartment and takes out a candy bar, a Milky Way to be exact. Okay fine up till now I can under stand, chocolate is comfort food have that now, wait till you get home to hit the bourbon and break out the porn – that’s understandable human behavior. I can follow along.

Then the candy bar turns into a woman, well half of a woman, the bottom half is still a candy bar, it is a weird mermaid like thing. It looks up at the man and smiles.

Then it starts talking.

Now about now I would be screaming and tossing away the candy bar. I’m still haunted by the image from the original fly where the tiny half man half fly is trapped in a spider web screaming “help me. Help me!” in a high squeaky voice. And the candybarwoman image is just too much like that for comfort. Hell my hold on reality is tenuous enough with having my damn food start talking to me okay?

The other rational response here is “Damn I need to get my meds checked” which is what I thought was going through the Tweedy guys mind since he wasn’t screaming. But no, he talks to the candy bar. A comment about the date or something.

The candy bar talks back, he laughs and then he eats the candy bar, which turns back into a candy bar just before the tweedy guy's teeth sever the Candybarwoman’s spine and our lives are haunted forever by her bloodcurdling scream.

This (his lack of surprise that the candy is speaking to him) implies that this clown carries on conversations with his food on a regular basis. It also explains his failure on the date. I think it was very brave of that woman to get back in the car with him after he’d spend the evening muttering to the meat and quoting Proust to the vegetables and then cursing at the coffee. I’d have maced the insane gimp and ran like hell. There are taxies everywhere.



Influences: Cheap Trick – The first group that I followed that routinely added ambiguity to their act. And there was that very strong (if very odd) visual presence what with Rick Neilsien’s Huntz Hall on speed act, Bun E Carlos looking like a German banker and the other two Robin Zander and Tom Petterson and looking like standard 70’s blow dry rock stars. And let’s not forget the importance of their logo.

In their image is where the ambiguity first shows up – who the hell are these guys? What’s going on here? And it showed up elsewhere – in their huge supper colossal hit that they will have to play forever “I want you to want me” there is a line “I’m begging you to beg me” huh? What does that mean? What the hell is this relationship all about?

And in concert - they follow the glorious Surrender – a song which says “We’re all alright” (and shows the obvious insanity of those who say you are not – and that there isn’t any damn point in taking them on it since they are so bloody nuts, best to nod, keep things close to the vest, and move on) with Auf Wiedersehen – an absolutely hopeless howl of Nihilistic despair – I like it very much (‘There are many here among you who fell you’re lives are a joke, for you we sing this final song for you there is no hope”). I may have identified a bit too much with that song but no matter.

Of course they could just be singing the song because its title is Auf Widersehen (goodbye in German). They sure as hell won’t tell you.

I like ambiguity and contradiction in things – keeps you on your toes.

And the baseball cap and the suit look is of course a nod to the Tricksters.