January 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
On Red Bull Commercials

Luckily, the above Red Bull commercial has been pulled. There was all kinds of speculation about whether the man was going to rape the bird or urinate on her, but either way the message is bizarre.

What the geniuses at Red Bull have replaced this commercial with is equally odd. The first half is the same: Man walks, bird poops on him, he wipes it off and then drinks a Red Bull. But then, he takes a slingshot from his pocket, shoots a piece of cork (I think) into the bird's rectum, the bird falls onto the ground, and the man kicks her. And the tagline is: Red Bull--it stimulates the mind and body (or something like that).

What on earth is that?

Though my husband has repeatedly reminded me that I'm not Red Bull's target market and I don't drink the stuff, I don't think that means I'm not allowed to at least publicly question them. Does Red Bull pump up your sense of vengeance? Does it make you more likely to harm animals? If young people are the target market, what are they hoping those young people will associate with their product?

I'm contacting them simply to ask what they're trying to accomplish. I want to know what message they think they're sending.

We all know the nature of most commercials is spin and even blatant prevarication (those happy California cows are a great example). But what purpose do these commercials serve other than making me even less likely to ever buy a Red Bull?