alibi . september 1 – 7, 2005
Ad Nauseum
BK loves BJ?
By Devin D. O’Leary

For the last month or so, I–and most of America by extension–have been subjected to Burger King’s ubiquitous ad campaign for “chicken fries.” Frightening inedibility of the alleged “food” product aside, the television commercials have crossed new boundaries of idiocy and raunch and are–I believe–contributing to the wholesale degeneration of American society as surely as the vomitoriums and coliseums of ancient Rome contributed to that once great empire’s death.

Did Devin O’Leary just turn 30 or have a kid? How else to understand his sudden concern about the pornification of advertising. Devin, whatever you do, don’t look at the rest of the Alibi!

Devin’s still young enough to imagine the slick young man putting one over on the out-of-it oldsters who head the ad agency. Yeah, right, Devin. Those old guys grew up to the Who singing “I hope I die before I get old.” They just didn’t get their wish.

But, perhaps Devin was actually born yesterday, if he doesn’t realize Rock ‘n’ Roll has been about sex for 50+ years — your grandparents felt each other up to “Great Balls O’ Fire!” And the saying that “sex sells” has been around for at least 40 years; time to read “The Hidden Persuaders” by Vance Packard (so tame by today’s fallen standard). What is rock or adversing but the effort to get into your pants?

I hope an actual journalist will look into the advertising agency behind BK’s coq roq, the earlier Singing Cowboy (“and the breasts that grow on trees!“) and, more than likely, Carl Jr’s Paris Hilton soft-core soak. It’s no longer about the meat that satisfies a conventional hunger. If that bothers you, get a job at Crosswinds. mjh

mjh’s Blog: You Are What You Eat

Am I the only one disturbed by the Burger King Singing Cowboy commercial? ….