It was sort of amusing when people started doing kitsch holiday commercials in a CGI version of those old quasi-claymation holiday specials (Rodolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the like). I’m ok with hipster irony, at least to a point.
It was a whole lot less amusing when somebody (I’ve forgotten who) did a commercial this year using the actual characters from the Rudolph special. If you want to ape the feel of the show, that’s one thing, but keep your grubby hands off Yukon Cornelius.
But now, they’ve really crossed the line– ESPN’s SportsCenter has been hyping the Patriots to the skies, including a ridiculous little chat segment in which Chris Berman and Bill Parcells talk about great teams of the past and how the Pats stack up. These are followed by a “Number of the Day” segment featuring… The Count from Sesame Street.
Now, look, if you wanted to use Elmo or that dreadful princessy girl muppet they were introducing a year or so ago, or some other new sellout character, that would be one thing. Hype your shows all you want with that new crap. But when you start messing with the Count, you’re messing with beloved icons of my childhood, and that will not be tolerated.
Keep this up, and I’ll open one! Two! Three! Three cans of whup-ass! Ha ha ha ha ha! [FX: lightning, thunder].
(Actually, it’s more like “I’ll write one, two, three whiny blog-posts about the commercial appropriation of my childhood icons,” but that doesn’t have the proper menacing tone…)