Monday, April 29, 2013

Dr Pepper's salute to conformist non-conformity



As near as I can tell, this commercial is one great big celebration of the concept of being yourself by following the crowd.

I mean, everyone's expressing themselves by wearing red shirts which include some fact which labels them in some way or another.  Personally, I think it's a lot more individualistic to NOT wear a personality trait on your freaking chest, but that's just me.

And look what qualifies as "Rebellion:"  Wearing a WHITE t-shirt instead of a red one.  A white t-shirt which announces "I'm a Rebel."  The only "rebellious" thing we see this woman do is walk in the opposite direction from the crowd, with a Way Too Satisfied With Her Bold Refusal To Go Along look on her face.  Take that, Sons of Liberty.  Take that, Civil Rights leaders of the 50s and 60s.  THIS is what it means to be a Rebel in 2013.

Is it ok if I find all this choreographed junk just a bit too manipulative to swallow?  Not that I'm a target audience or anything- personally, I've never understood the allure of soda that tastes like cough syrup.  But I never imagined that buying and drinking this swill would put me in the ranks of Nat Turner and John Brown.  Hey, they didn't even have "I'm a Rebel" t-shirts.  Losers.

2 comments:

  1. I'd wondered when you'd get around to "Hepcats getting funky in unison"; the thing is that "let's all rebel in dehumanizing lockstep" is something that Dr Pepper has always used as a pitch. The damned jingle from the eighties is still echoing in my brain.

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  2. I like Dr. Pepper, and cough syrup makes me retch.

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