Bowl of ads non-nutritious
Published 12:01 am Monday, February 7, 2011
How’s that big Super Bowl of ads we communally consumed sitting today?
Was your appetite whetted by watching the Friday night special program featuring America’s all-time favorite Super Bowl commercials? Did you follow your normal routine and skip the commercials while watching this show? Or did you perhaps come to the show mid-program and think, “What’s so great about this ad?” only to realize it was a real time ad during a commercial break of a program about commercials?
Traditionally, after commentary about commercials, analysis today will focus on the performances of the quarterbacks, in this case Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. (Regardless of the outcome of the game, we would like to join Pariah Tiger Woods and what must certainly be his unspoken incredulity regarding the disparate media treatment of professional sports stars and their attendant scandals.)
No wonder the focus on commercials.
Speaking of which, Mattel, the world’s largest toy company, is asking invested consumers the question: Should Barbie and her longtime boyfriend Ken reunite? Apparently the couple split up in 2004, but remained friends. Barbie, however, embraced her newfound independence, while Ken went through a major mid-life crisis. (He’s wearing his hair shoulder-length these days.)
Mattel poses the question as part of its “Ken turns 50” promotion. Barbie, ever the trendsetter, was dating a younger man all those years — she turned 50 in 2009. Mattel is employing every cyber trick available for its campaign: There’s barbieandken.com, USA Today reports, where people can vote on whether Barbie should “take Ken back” or not. Which sounds a little more like settling than reuniting, but what the heck. The marketing of Ken, and Barbie’s reactions, can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Mattel is unveiling Ken’s transformation with its newest version of him, “Sweet Talking Ken,” which the company describes as “the ultimate boyfriend for every occasion,” because he “says whatever you want him to say!” (Hmmm. As opposed to macho dolls that refuse to deliver their lines?)
Mattel has Ken all over the wooing map, online and professing his love for Barbie on billboards in New York and Los Angeles. But Barbie remains undecided, or what would be the point of the campaign? The couple’s website says: “Stay tuned as Ken fights to win Barbie’s heart back, one grand gesture at a time.”
Reuniting is one thing. But between the tweets and the billboards, we have to say Ken is giving us, er, Barbie, the creeps. He needs to show a little restraint lest he be renamed “Tweet Stalking Ken.”
