What Were They Thinking? Two Revolting Commercials

There are two rather bizarre commercials, both by major advertisers, making the rounds of prime-time TV. Both use disgusting, dehumanizing images for ostensibly humorous effect, and in both cases I found myself wondering what the advertisers were thinking.

The first of these is for Fed Ex, and shows a group of chimney sweeps discussing ways that the company can help them. As each man talks, black smoke emanates from his mouth. To find this revolting, one need hardly be aware of the brutal history surrounding the use of children as chimney sweeps in England during the early part of the industrial age, or of studies by Percival Pott, a physician of that time, who noted the heavy incidence of cancer in young men who had served as “climbing boys”. Anybody with a functioning brain can infer that people who constantly breathe black smoke—even standing around in the relatively fresh air, as the men in the commercial are—will not live to see a ripe old age. Yet in the Fed Ex commercial, this fact is presented as an amusing sidelight to their profession.

The other spot is even more clearly grotesque. This one is for Burger King, and involves a plastic-surgery patient preparing to receive a hand transplant, presumably so that he can have hands large enough to handle Burger King’s burgers. Now what were they thinking? It would seem to me a fairly obvious rule of advertising, but maybe it needs to be spelled out: When promoting a food product, do not show or suggest surgical operations, scalpels, sutures, transplanted body parts, or anything similar. I would have thought that was a no-brainer, particularly for a company whose product involves the flesh of mammals. Or maybe I’m the only person who, next time he sees a Burger King, is likely to think about somebody’s hand being cut off.

Ages ago, there was a 7-Up commercial that revolved around people drooling, and it too seemed to defy a more general version of the aforementioned rule—namely, don’t show anything disgusting while advertising something that you want people to put into their bodies. Apparently the 7-Up spot struck others much as it did me, because I never saw it again. What’s surprising about the Burger King commercial and the Fed Ex one (which seems almost sensitive by comparison) is the fact that these are running at the same time, and both apparently have been judged successes. The Fed Ex commercial has even won recognition in the industry.

Oh, and lest these comments seem to suggest that I’m easily grossed out, let me state for the record that I’m the guy who has movies such as Helter Skelter, Hated—G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies, and The Curious Dr. Humpp on his Netflix movie queue. I love schlock, violent movies, true-crime shows, etc. But when dehumanizing images are used to promote products—both of which are, in this case, geared toward the mass buying public—it seems like something’s wrong. But maybe I’m in the minority on this.