Every Generic Brand Ad Ever Rolled Into One Hilarious Blob

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post

The narration of this piece came from the satire of Kendra Eash at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency – a website that sharply annihilates Internet culture (perhaps because it is a publishing company). Narrated by Dallas McClain with a voice like Sam Elliot doing the “Beef – It’s What’s For Dinner” commercials.

This video [language] would make comedian and social commentator Bill Hicks [language] proud – or would it…?:

Here’s why this humorous piece might actually make Bill Hicks turn in his grave (God rest his soul).

It’s going for the “anti-market dollar.” Or the “righteous indignation dollar” by allowing people to laugh at embarrassingly mind-numbing advertisement. Yet, it is an advertisement … This cutting-edge satire was actually a brilliant passive marketing move. Stock image site Dissolve.com provided the imagery for the video, thereby poking fun at themselves as they do in fact provide – generic images. Perhaps unwittingly, it’s a mind-bending online guerrilla promotion. And an inside joke. That’s a good dollar – the inside joke market.

It definitely won the hearts of Internet users everywhere, as well as Vimeo, the video site that hosted it. Triumph? Or are the laughs on you?

Notable moment:

Did we put a baby in here?

What about an ethnic old man whose wrinkled smile represents the happiness and wisdom of the poor?

Yep.

So, fun stuff aside, to take a deeper look at viral advertisement…

If you don’t know who Edward Bernays (nephew to Sigmund Freud) is or his impact on marketing and culture creation, check out the book Propaganda. You can also watch the documentary mini-series, The Century of the Self. He is discussed heavily in all four parts as well as how different organizations, corporate America and the CIA used his techniques to corral an unsuspecting public. Although he didn’t come up with the idea of propaganda, he took it to a whole new level at a major turning point in media during early 20th century America and has everything to do with TV/Internet programming today.

Please check out the reading list below for future interesting reads.

Part 1: Happiness Machines

Further reading:

Trust Me, I’m Lying (Highly recommend – will you be mad or marvel?)
Trust Us, We’re the Experts and Toxic Sludge is Good For You!
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
The Prince (It is rumored that Machiavelli was forced to write this and so, provided complete sarcasm!)
Notes From the Internet Apocalypse (a satirical novel)

Image: wikimedia commons

Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.

Recent posts by Heather Callaghan: