Ok, I'm watching the Angels-Red Sox game on Fox, and all of a sudden I'm assaulted by a stupendously stupid commercial featuring a lame take-off on Sir Mix-A-Lot's Salute to rank Sexism, "Baby's Got Back." Except this time, we have The King- the once retro-kitchy, then creepy, and now downright dumb mascot of Burger King dancing to lyrics like "I like Square Buns!" and using a tape measure to check out the dimensions of a box taped, yes, to a woman's butt.
The joke then gets worse- turns out this is all about a promo featuring SpongeBobSquarePants, which can best be described as a rather inane but generally harmless little cartoon favored among very young children and stoned adults who really need to grow the hell up and get lives.
So nasty rap music + a cute cartoon character equals a marketing strategy. Great.
I wonder how many dads were watching the game with their young sons and found themselves subjected to this embarressing drivel. Sir Mix-A-Lot is a sad, best-forgotten reminder of the worst aspects of 90s music- viciously mysogynistic rap designed to reduce women to the role of mere trophies, pieces of bling no more significant than a gold chain or ring, and like chains and rings to be assessed in value with tape measures and weights. This has nostalgic value now? Really? Shame on Burger King for considering this music appropriate on any level.
What won't Burger King do to sell hamburgers? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Right now, celebrating the exploitation of women is off the list.
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