November 28, 2005--Mr. Potato Head
Now that you’ve recovered from all the turkey leftovers and the endless football, it is time to reflect on the real meaning of Thanksgiving—shopping. No better way to do that than by taking another look at the Macy’s Day Parade. Sorry—the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
A hundred years ago, when I was a kid, I seem to remember that it was all about Santa, his helpers, and the Turkey. True, we knew the parade was organized and paid for by Macys and that it would remind us to get started on our Christmas shopping, but it all felt quite innocent and relatively free of commercialism. Oh, how things have changed!
As reported in the NY Times (see article linked below) in case you haven’t noticed, the parade is now much more a means to launch campaigns for movies, TV shows, and merchandise than to help Santa make his list and check it twice. With 2.5 million lining the route and another 50 million tuning in, it’s a marketer's dream come true.
The Scooby-Doo balloon (Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite; I swear I heard him say this) is not just Scooby but also a subliminal reminder that a new line of Scooby-Doo toys are available at Macys and elsewhere. The Chicken Little balloon alerts us to the fact that a new CL movie is about to open. And the Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi float paid for by the Cartoon Network, is to let us know that they are about to air a rash of Hi Hi shows.
It’s almost a relief to have a street lamp come crashing down on your head so you can escape to the emergency room.
On that subject—did you see that NBC, which aired the entire parade with the Today Show news people hosting (Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, and Al Roker), did not choose to report what turned out to be front page stories the next day in all New York City papers (the Times included)—the crash of the M&M balloon and the resulting injuries to two good folks from Albany (“good” because they announced that they will not be suing Macys or NYC—though I understand Whiplash Willie is right now on a bus heading up to Albany). Here they were, on the air live and they were presented with this scoop opportunity and what did they do--intercut a video tape of the M&M balloon from last year’s parade so as too be able to present the parade “in its entirety.” Good Night and Good Luck, Kati and Matt.
Back to the parade itself—Mr. Potato Head has been a staple for years but with all the concern about nutritous food Mr. Potato Head reemerged this year as Mr. Healthy Potato Head. Mr. Head’s website (he has one) reports that this is not the first time he has undergone a makeover—introduced in 1952 he at that time came with a balloon pipe in his potato hand. That was dropped in 1987. I guess the United States Potato Board (his sponsor) didn’t want to have its “spokespud” get dragged into the Phillip Morris lawsuits. This year’s Mr. PH showed up replete with a water bottle (I didn’t catch if it was Poland Spring or Evian—I leave it to you to guess), running shoes (Nikes? Addidas?), and an MP3 player (iPod??). He also seems to have been in the gym, what with those new Popeye biceps. Though I was a little concerned to notice that even more than last year his eyes appeared to be popping out of his head—nip-and-tuck, thyroid?
On thing they forgot to mention is that about 80 percent of potatoes consumed in the US are fried. Oh well, so much for Mr. Healthy.
A hundred years ago, when I was a kid, I seem to remember that it was all about Santa, his helpers, and the Turkey. True, we knew the parade was organized and paid for by Macys and that it would remind us to get started on our Christmas shopping, but it all felt quite innocent and relatively free of commercialism. Oh, how things have changed!
As reported in the NY Times (see article linked below) in case you haven’t noticed, the parade is now much more a means to launch campaigns for movies, TV shows, and merchandise than to help Santa make his list and check it twice. With 2.5 million lining the route and another 50 million tuning in, it’s a marketer's dream come true.
The Scooby-Doo balloon (Mayor Bloomberg’s favorite; I swear I heard him say this) is not just Scooby but also a subliminal reminder that a new line of Scooby-Doo toys are available at Macys and elsewhere. The Chicken Little balloon alerts us to the fact that a new CL movie is about to open. And the Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi float paid for by the Cartoon Network, is to let us know that they are about to air a rash of Hi Hi shows.
It’s almost a relief to have a street lamp come crashing down on your head so you can escape to the emergency room.
On that subject—did you see that NBC, which aired the entire parade with the Today Show news people hosting (Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, and Al Roker), did not choose to report what turned out to be front page stories the next day in all New York City papers (the Times included)—the crash of the M&M balloon and the resulting injuries to two good folks from Albany (“good” because they announced that they will not be suing Macys or NYC—though I understand Whiplash Willie is right now on a bus heading up to Albany). Here they were, on the air live and they were presented with this scoop opportunity and what did they do--intercut a video tape of the M&M balloon from last year’s parade so as too be able to present the parade “in its entirety.” Good Night and Good Luck, Kati and Matt.
Back to the parade itself—Mr. Potato Head has been a staple for years but with all the concern about nutritous food Mr. Potato Head reemerged this year as Mr. Healthy Potato Head. Mr. Head’s website (he has one) reports that this is not the first time he has undergone a makeover—introduced in 1952 he at that time came with a balloon pipe in his potato hand. That was dropped in 1987. I guess the United States Potato Board (his sponsor) didn’t want to have its “spokespud” get dragged into the Phillip Morris lawsuits. This year’s Mr. PH showed up replete with a water bottle (I didn’t catch if it was Poland Spring or Evian—I leave it to you to guess), running shoes (Nikes? Addidas?), and an MP3 player (iPod??). He also seems to have been in the gym, what with those new Popeye biceps. Though I was a little concerned to notice that even more than last year his eyes appeared to be popping out of his head—nip-and-tuck, thyroid?
On thing they forgot to mention is that about 80 percent of potatoes consumed in the US are fried. Oh well, so much for Mr. Healthy.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:06 AM
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