Saturday, March 28, 2009

Idiot bubbles while dancing in street (Bubble Gum Weekend)

In the '80s and well into the '90s, there was no end to the unlikely situations in which bubble gum commercials would depict bubbling as a suitable activity.

We all remember the Care-Free gum commercials with the "bubble blowin' sugar-free" song. These ads evolved from some with a more bombastic jingle, and they started out featuring people bubbling while engaging in various athletic activities such as tennis or lifting weights.

Eventually though - when blowing bubbles that burst all over one's face was ceasing to be the phenomenon it once was - Care-Free started taking a very slightly different tack. This ridiculous 1988 commersh uses a similar jingle as before, but the activities aren't as strenuous, and no bubbles pop on any faces:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub15Hpe5fg8

That commersh grows increasingly absurd throughout its mere 15 seconds. It finally culminates with a balding man in a goofy yellow t-shirt dancing in the middle of a city street while bubbling.

Hell of a stupid way to hold up traffic, huh? You can almost hear motorists yelling, "Get out of the road, you idiot!" But he seems to be paying no attention to these cries, as he is more concerned about his bubbling.

And yes, this ad played on the now-familiar fallacy that assumed the bubbling public would rather get bladder cancer from artificial sweeteners than get cavities from sugar. Considering it's been years since I've seen anyone chew Care-Free, that appeal didn't seem to work too well.

2 comments:

  1. Tim, you should buy the alleged video of drug war crusader VP Joe Biden's daughter snorting cocaine and post it here as an Online Lunchpail exclusive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Right, because "alleged videos" are so newsworthy.

    ReplyDelete