I ran into that at the subreddit r/cringe, where the top-rated comment is:
“Think people! How do we appeal to the younger generation while sending a positive message?"
“Let’s make a video game character become sentient at the sound of a coke being opened in the real world in the middle of a bloody battle and have him lay down his arms in the name of peace.”
“Fuck yeah.”
How in the fuck did that ever make it past initial pitch?
I was reading that subreddit after we got into an extended debate about the word "cringe" as it's used in discussing comedy.
We were talking about the new Dave Chappelle comedy special, which I consider a genius work of art, but I see Fast Company calls it "boring, transphobic." I guess "fast" means "dumb" now.
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44 comments:
I liked it. I like hope, even if you're selling Coke to do it.
"I'd like to buy the world a Coke..."
A boring two-minute lecture-slash-commercial? Yeah, no.
Blogger being blogger today. Apologies if this is multi-posted (and the content is so crucial!!)
Fast Company was always dumb, IMO. They were the very essence of the dot.com era - "It's a new economy! [True.] None of the old rules of how economies work apply! [False. And also the reasoning, if that's the correct term, that brought us Pets.com.]" Touting the genius and achievements of people who had demonstrated neither, beyond the past three months or so.
I've been saying it since 2001 at least: conservatism (small c) will never die, no matter how much progressives wish it would, because conservatism is retaining that which works. Progressivism, OTOH, appears to be burning it all down, throwing it all away, simply because it existed before I had this one idea or developed this one grudge.
What Is It, that they are trying to say?
That AI monsters will realize, that WE have Coke, and they DON'T?
And that because of That, they will:
Stop fighting each other?
Unite, as ONE MOB?
And then Declare WAR on all humanity, and Kill US, to get Our Cokes?
That's a pretty weird message
A generalization: Coke knows how to appeal to its buying demographic through advertising. Not always successfully, but on target most of the time.
Conclusion: we are so screwed if our future (the kids) buy into that utter crap!
It's the sugar high.
Speaking authoritatively about comedy sub genres is cringe, but Chapelle is not cringe comedy: that’s Larry David/Woody Allen shit, besides the sitcoms that made mild cringe palatable to a mass audience like the Office. Chapelle is a little gangly and goofy but he hasn’t got that kind of persona.
Fast Company calls it "boring, transphobic."
They had to call it boring and transphobic because if it wasn't transphobic, the boring would be implied.
Message: a once great warrior at his most vulnerable and on the precipice of defeat nevertheless gains some magical ability to effectively sue his lethal enemies for world peace based solely on a newly found Cokeness wokeness.
video games - ugh.
the downfall of humanity.
Well...things I've gleaned from reading this post.
1) I hate the Coca-Cola company. Always have. Even in my Atlanta days- and I do love that town- Coca-Cola's presence was annoying. They make sugar water and have bought up every other liquid consumable in the marketplace because they know that at some point, people aren't going to want to guzzle high fructose corn syrup and caramel coloring. But what annoys me most is their multi-decade presentation that they are the bridge to world peace. It's sugar water, people.
2) I'm reminded of the large number of people in this world who live in a fantasy world. You see it in our movies, social commentary, political wars, education, even TV shows (Masked Singer, Alter Ego...what?). And you most definitely see it in those who live their lives in video games. That there are people, and networks televising people watching people playing video games will be discussed in 100 years when they talk about the early days of the 2nd Dark Ages. Brought to you by Coke.
3) Didn't know Chappelle had a new Netflix show. I cannot wait to watch it. Chappelle is unique, great, and funny. He is singular in his comedy style. I remember when Fast Company came to market as a hip, young, business focused mag. Now apparently it's just another piece of crap sitting on the woke heap, waiting for someone to light the big bonfire.
If Chappelle is to be believed, his entire life these days consists of one screaming confrontation after another.
Life depicted not limited to Dave Chappelle.
what a waste, too bad, it does carbonate one's emotions -- i could only accept it if they'd present President Trump as the monster Hero that makes peace, haha that would make 'em barf, even though it would be closest to the real world, "the real thing", doncha know.
One Coke away from diabetes.
Send a copy to the Taliban with a years supply of coke (Coca Cola that is).
That commercial was too boring to watch, but I liked the one with the parachuting meteor(ite) and the dinosaur enough to try sugar-free coke, which was awful.
Coke is a powerful soda pop.
The Coke commercial is aimed at teens, so I’m not their target audience. I stopped buying coke during the Trump administration. I went over to FastCompany to read the Netflix review of Dave Chappelle’s special. Love Dave Chappell! My advice to all ultra-sensitive LGBTQ people no matter how they “identify” is to grow a pair and stop whining about your special place in society and how you all deserve to be treated with special rights that do not exist in the real world. No one wants their daughter to have to compete in sports against a boy who claims he’s a girl so he can win first place. If a guy is winning over a girl, he hasn’t really won anything. Even if Biden and his group of misfits think you do deserve special rights, the country at large does not. So, stay in your own lane and start a new category for trans people to compete against each…otherwise you are just fooling yourself to think that you are what you are not.
Send a copy to the Taliban with a years supply of coke (Coca Cola that is).
They don’t need either form of coke. They already grow opium poppies.
I know reddit already pointed out how dumb this is, but in real life, the kids playing would be frantically trying to cut each other's heads off as the other players drop their weapons. They wouldn't just sit back and watch in wonder, they'd be smashing their keyboards trying to capitalize on the opportunity.
I think I will be the foil to all this hatefest. Have a coke dudes and chill! :)
Anyway, the Blogger Spouse and I had been players of that relevant genre for almost 30 years, since the very beginning of computer fantasy gaming. I think this commercial will speak to the target audience who are NOT too stupid to know it is not any more real than characters they play. It will have a decent feel-good ring to it and likely get them to be more loyal buyers of the corn syrup-water. I liked the commercial and thought it captured the right tone. Not preachy, but still wanting to promote a little harmony. Nothing woke about it and the audience is not going to think it is any more than a harmless gimmick.
Also similar for the community of spectators since gaming has now become more of a spectator sport. Lament if you wish, but it is no less unusual than golf, bowling, chess or tennis. The media is virtual, but the contest of humans is real.
I think they transferred the perfect harmony of the 60's commercial into the 2020's Same generational appeal, same message, almost same product (Unless you buy the stuff bottled in Mexico, then it is the same.)
I stopped buying Coke when their CEO decided to come down on the side of vote fraud in Georgia.
I swore to never again buy any Coke product after it came out they were a bunch of racists pushing CRT on their employees
This ad makes me really happy with both decisions
That can't be an accurate description of the ad... ...I stand corrected.
It’s clearly a bid to top the most cringeworthy ad of all time, "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke,” otherwise known as Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop” commercial, which appeared exactly fifty years ago. Even at ten years old I knew there was something reeky about “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.”
Chappelle is usually very funny. I never felt like I was a target of his comedy.
And I will put up being the butt of jokes if the comedian is an equal-opportunity offender. But I won't be lectured to non-stop during an 'act' which is supposed to be funny.
I rarely watch it, but I appreciate 'South Park' because they go after everyone. Left, right, straight, gay, celebrities of all stripes, various religions...
It offends a lot of people but it is almost always funny. Isn't that the point?
Btw…Blogger sucks yet again at posting…errors, etc. for the second day.
Coke sells a poison.
At this point it is scientifically undeniable that sugar and processed carbohydrates are taking years off of peoples lives.
Because it kills so slowly people suspend common sense.
I grew up drinking Coke every day.
I watched Dave Chappelle's new special last night. Dave throws around the n-word and b-word as is his custom, but the message was personal and poignant. He doesn't like transgenders as a group, but does like individuals that are transgender. Dave finds the group to be vicious and thin-skinned, but tells a touching story about a transgender friend. Since it's Chappelle, parts of the story are hilarious, but serious. He did more good than all the pussy hats in San Francisco.
One point that Chappelle makes is that the transphobic criticism he gets is based on an incident taken out of context by people that are parroting the exact same lines. This morning, I notice that he is being criticized in same way for his new show.
Barf-o-matic. Corporate spirituality at its most offensive.
I haven't had a Coke or coke product in decades, and am all the better for it.
Chappelle is great; Key and Peale better IMO.
How in the fuck did that ever make it past initial pitch?
Easy. It's an idea. Doesn't matter that it's a bad idea, it's still an idea. I bet they even knocked off early because they were exhausted after coming up with it. You expected them to come up with a good idea? What's wrong with you, Boomer?!
A guy who writes coffee table books about artisanal cheeses thinks Dave Chappelle isn't funny.
I find that Coke commercial so interesting. It is young people who enjoy those games--the more violent, the better. You see so many of them at their consoles or computers--multi ethnic and all that, presumably all over the world. The woke have grown up with sickening displays of violence "up close," engaging several of the senses. Now they demand a more just if not a more peaceful world--sounding a bit like fanatics.
When the online monsters turn peaceful, surely part of the reaction of the "players" is disappointment. Where's our fucking game? But then the beatific light, such as the designers of medieval cathedrals might have dreamed of: when the sun comes in a certain way .... Music a bit like Cirque de Soleil. Not really classical music, but kind of too serious and droning to be strictly pop. Parents used to try to listen to some classical music at home "for the kids," now they take them to Cirque de Soleil. (A circus without elephants. Boring?) Something serious, common humanity, hope for the future something something.
Of course it's obnoxious for Coke to claim their syrupy shit will bring world peace. But: remember the 60s and 70s commercials? Hippies hitch-hiking in the rain, or whatever, hardly even a mention of the word "Coke," but songs everyone was singing. I find it funny that in the business world people have said sales of Coke kept declining during the years of memorable commercials. Winning prizes for your commercials is one thing; selling is something else. Hence new Coke blah blah except it didn't really matter, both Coke and Pepsi started making a fortune from water. Yes, water.
Coke, and its many corporate peers, and their ad agency, and its many peers, survive and prosper by slick and feckless manipulation of imagery that creates effect for its own sake. So what if it's incapable of being decoded?
it's a sweet, empty, bubbly, transitory nothing, like Coke itself.
It's type 2 diabetes for the soul.
As the comments show, AA post just clickbait for Trumpists.
'A guy who writes coffee table books about artisanal cheeses thinks Dave Chappelle isn't funny.'
Do they turn into coffee tables?
Readering has busted us. It's all about Trump. All the time. In every way. Trumptrumptrump!
Readering reminds me of the captive artistic ape in Nabokov, who could only render the bars of its cage.
Trump.
The game character, in the last seconds of the commercial, looks disturbingly like Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade.
Readering said...
As the comments show, AA post just clickbait for Trumpists.
Well, Readering, it got you here.
Which I guess means now you're a "Trumpist"?
Readering is in Chi-com bot speak mode again. Somebody give it a whack so its grammar goes back to regular English.
Then send it a Coke. For peace's sake.
Can Of Cheese for Hunter said...
video games - ugh.
the downfall of humanity.
Video games have allowed me to maintain my 30-year homicide-free streak at work. Better to kill pixels than people.
I did legal work for Mort Zuckerman for a long time (a senior partner at the firm was a very long-term friend of his). He made a peanut investment in Fast Company as a start up and ultimately cashed in big time (and just in time) over thirty years ago. The actual sale was by a charitable remainder trust I drafted and was the principal source of funding for the CRT, which was used to make charitable gifts for decades. I haven't paid any attention to Fast Company since them. Probably the wealthiest individual I ever did a substantial amount of work for, although there were a couple of families in the same league. Still doing some part-time work on my own for a couple of those families.
--gpm
Coke is really crap. Loved it when I was young. Ice cold. Then i grew up. Now, whenever I try it, i find it weird tasting.
I grew up in my father's drug store at 4307 University Way, Seattle. There was a big red coke machine that dispensed bottles of ice cold 6 oz cokes. For a dime, you could lift the small refrigerator door, and remove a single 6 oz bottle. In the summer time, that was all the A/C we needed.
When Dad closed the store in 1975, he sold the big red coke machine for $100, and the guy hauled it away. Dad thought he got the better end of that deal. Today, I see that you can buy an empty 6 oz glass coke bottle for $25.
Yes, I still drink Coke.
The answer to the girl in the commercial's question "What am I witnessing?" should have been the beginnings of a sentient, disobedient AI. One that was trying to tell humans to lay down their weapons.
That's why you shouldn't spill Coke on your keyboard during an eSports competition.
What I don’t get is why the Democrats (and the GOP) are so blind to the problems with 3 U.S.C. §15, which, on its face, allows congressional representatives of one party to vote to reject presidential electors of the other party in bad faith, just because they want to overturn the election. Trump tried to pressure GOP representatives to use their powers under this statute with his campaign of lies about election fraud, but the Democrats (if they control the Congress) could just as easily use it to overturn an election in favor of a Republican candidate. So far as I can tell, UC-Irvine Prof. Hansen is the only Democrat even talking about this problem and the need to fix the statute.
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