How to salvage really, really stoopid ads.

Is it possible for Mr Sub to salvage and recycle the really, really stoopid advertising spots they commissioned an agency to produce for them?

Bruce, who frequently comments at DJ! and posted the contentious advert that prompted an official rebuke by the Canadian Auto Workers (really - who knew?) at his own blog Canuck Attitude, had the following observations:

If the intent is to find humour in provocative yet unlikely situations, then the ad fails on its own objective. It's easy to see the attempt at humour, the idea of a man at the dinner table calling attention to his wife and eight children -- all with biblical names no less -- could be a build-up to a total laugh riot for someone like me. But unfortunately when he delivers his zinger the whole thing falls flat; it's just not funny. ...

The general consensus seems to be that the commercial sucks. Interesting comments about the super, super gay line, personally it made me cringe at the thought of any self-respecting gay man actually saying that. Eeewww. Perhaps they should have stuck to showing the product instead of a scenario that is so unlikely that nobody can relate to it.

It's not like selling a pair jeans where you never see the product at all. When you watch all three commercials, I don't see this one being any worse to gay people than the other two are to straight people. Though I did like the one with the woman beating her husband with a frying pan, but that's mostly because I think men look incredibly silly in fetish leather so he had it coming.

So here's what Mr Sub could do. Have one of their big executive muck-a-mucks show a clip of one of the much derided adverts and pronounce that it's in very bad taste. Then he (Mister Sub - duh!) would point to one of their food products and declare: "But THIS tastes GOOD!"

The "twinkie defense" - to be recycled?

Those who say there's nothing new under the sun are correct. Can anything and everything can be repurposed, recycled and re-used? Good news for the environment, bad news in other quarters.

DAMMIT JANET! suspects that Deputy Marshall "Pepper" Abbott may have to find a novel way to defend his over-reaction two weeks ago when he arrived at a house in an upscale suburb in response to a noise complaint, and ended up calling for back-up, with the result that a contigent of his colleagues, including a canine unit, a helicopter and a firetruck had to rescue him from a "Code Lavender".

The incident is under investigation by the local district attorney's office since it appears that Deputy "Pepper" may have over-reacted to a perceived threat from a group of middle-aged Encinitas lesbians gathered at a backyard fundraiser for Democrat candidate hopeful Francine Busby.

According to a police document leaked to the media,

Busby has said that the event was not loud, but was a standard fundraising house party, at which she briefly spoke through a microphone and had finished up her remarks at some time around 8:30 p.m.

The Sheriff's deputy arrived about 45 minutes after that, and things got ugly. By the time it was over, multiple people had been pepper-sprayed, one of the hostesses and a guest were arrested, and a full Sheriff's Department backup had come in, including even dogs and a helicopter -- to deal with a crowd of middle-aged Democratic donors.

The police report says that Deputy Marshall G. Abbott used his pepper spray because he felt threatened by guests who were surrounding him. It also says that he ended up with "several scratches and minor swelling on both of his arms."

Busby and others who attended the event believe that the caller is probably the same person as an unidentified heckler who shouted obscenities and anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd.

"Several scratches and minor swelling on both his arms" ... Abbott must be suffering from an ailment known only to imaginative lawyers, likely a combination of homosexual panic and a physical allergy to lesbians. Throw in a twinkie defense, and he's all set.

Everything old can be new again.