Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy July 4th from our friends at Budweiser



Anyone who has been alive for more than a few years has probably become numb to the weirdly hypocritical way in which America treats it's historical icons. On one hand, we've got an entire "news" network dedicated to elevating them to the level of sainthood, arguing that their every utterance was inspired by God, and everything they wrote was meant to guide this nation for all eternity. Support of slavery? Disdain for the idea of equality for women? Look away, nothing to see here....

On the other hand, the Founders have always been used to sell, sell, sell everything from mattresses to automobiles. They've been part of the ad culture for as long as there's been an ad culture. Washington's image appeared on cigar boxes in the 1880s. I used to play with Lincoln Logs. Ben Franklin Paint. Ethan Allen Furniture. Turn on the Hotel Channel in Philadelphia, and you can watch some fat oaf in a costume urge you to visit every single attraction the city has to offer 24/7.

This Budweiser ad makes me wonder if we might want to tone down our treatment of the Founding Fathers as readily-available, public domain pitchmen in the future. I mean, presenting Washington , Jefferson and Franklin as beer-crazy, party-loving leches is a bit much.

Well , Ok, maybe you can keep Franklin in there. But do we really need to see The Father of Our Country propositioning a woman with a line like "how'd you like to be the 'Second Lady?" First of all, the line is ridiculously awkward. Second, dammit, George Washington was almost legendary in his devotion to Martha, who outlived him. It's one thing to use GW to sell me beer. Don't slander him while doing it, please.

How about this revolutionary (no pun intended) concept- for one weekend a year, ad agencies leave off exploiting the vague, cloudy memory that most Americans have toward the people who fought for our Independence from some country, wrote some Declaration, and then wrote something else that isn't the Declaration but which, according to Glenn Beck, still calls us to be a nation which worships Capitalism, God, and Guns, not necessarily in that order? You know, that document that Obama is spending every day huddled with William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright and George Soros plotting to destroy?

Nah. Pass the beer and Hillshire Smoked Brats, I've got to post LOL THS IS THE FUNNYST COMMERSHAL EVAH on YouTube.

2 comments:

  1. That's just disgusting. In a similar vein, Kraft has a new.macaroni and cheese commercial that has Jefferson acting like a jerk. Just plain sad.

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  2. Good lord, what a vulgarity!! The only thing that's worse that this is the sure knowledge that if one were to propose a law forbidding the defamation of the Founders, one would be assailed from idiots from all sides.

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