This year Coke did a ton of commercials on the Super-Bowl. Some of them were funny and some of them were not so funny. The one that caught my eye early on was with the Simpson's. The piece focuses on Mr. Burns loosing all of his money and the after effects. Towards the end of the commercial Mr. Burns sees people playing in the park and having a good time. He longingly looks and wants to be apart of the "happiness". One of the revelers, Apu, gives him a coke and includes him in the festivities.
Now I am all about sharing a beverages among friends, and even offering something to a stranger, but Mr. Burns? Mr. Burns, within the Simpson's Universe, has maintained a power plant that has cause immeasurable environmental damage, he has stolen a child from a family, blocked out the sun, murdered people (subjective|Tree House of Horrors episode), and has had noted packs with the Devil himself. Why would anyone ever want to share anything outside of fist sandwich with this man?
Now this commercial in past years may not have been such a big deal, but which rich person is Mr. Burns is representing in the commercial? Is he Bernie Madoff, or one of the bankers, or a member of Wall Street? Would you give a coke to any of those people or invite them to hang out in the park?
Seems to me that Coke wants us to help out these pour rich bastards that screwed the hell out of all of us. Is this apart of a larger PR scheme to humanize the super rich? It just might be...throughout the Super Bowl another Ad ran for 'Undercover Boss', which takes a CEO and places them in "lower level" positions. The show ran just after the 'Post Game Wrap Up' and featured a very nice CEO of a waste management company getting into "lower level" jobs. This CEO was extremely personable and caring. The CEO showed general concern about the workers around him. This CEO is not like the CEOs that screwed up our economy. Those types of CEOs would never do a "lesser" job. Some can't even get their f'n coffee. 'Undercover Bosses' featured CEO may have been a bit of a dick at some point (not sure), but he didn't wreck his company for a profit or layoff tons of workers to show a inflated company asset numbers.
The Simpson's/Coke commercial and the 'Undercover Boss' represent a new spoonful of crap that America will have to eat will watching the boob tube. This kind of crap can lead to statements like "he's not such a bad guy even though he fired everyone, cause he has a family" or "don't tax the rich, cause then they won't hire". It's pretty much madness.
Give a Coke to your boss and ask for a raise or a contract so you can't get fired. Then you can see how much he doesn't focus on the bottom line.
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