THE COMMERCIAL I HATE

Maybe my television watching isn’t pedestrian enough.  I tend to have MSNBC on too much as a background noise and that is why I have encountered too often what I see as the most annoying, nauseating advertisement on the tube. 

I’m talking about the General Electric “Ideas are ugly and scary” ad.  This mini-movie narrative is the story of a huge, monstrous, hairy, alien creature with oversized eyes and a long hairy tail.  While sorrowful music plays, this being is born, seen in a delivery room bassinet with nurses looking on, frowning.  Then we see this creature shuffling around the street, repeatedly rejected, looking like a beaten puppy.  It ends up on the street sleeping in a cardboard box.  At last it is discovered and accepted.  In the end this creature has had a makeover, and is seen cleaned-up and colorful, standing in the bright lights of a stage in front of an enthusiastic audience.

Why do I hate it so?  Three reasons:  First:  this narrative is manipulative beyond belief.  All ads set out to do this, but this one yanks you by the throat and chokes you.  It is an outrage to use bullying and homelessness to sell GE products, comparing the human tragedy of society’s rejection as a selling point.  Secondly:  I love puppies, kittens and babies, but this creature is so scary looking I have to look away; there is no redeeming moment when I can fall in love with it.  Ideas can be rejected and later reconsidered, but not ideas as bad as this one.  Third:  it is brilliant, and whatever wunderkind thought it up took creativity in marketing to a level beyond Steve Jobs all the way to Dr. Frankenstein.

It is presumably is a winner for GE, but I for one will continue looking away or changing the channel.