There’s a TV commercial from Verizon I don’t like. And I’ll tell you why. It’s the sprinkles commercial. The one where, after the father pours a crazy amount of ice cream sprinkles on the counter, the guy says, “Would you like whipped cream with that?”
Here’s why I don’t like it. It’s a penultimate expression of the era we’re coming out of, The Unraveling Era. The guy behind the counter is kind of a slacker/going-nowhere-fast character. OK, he has a witty line. Haha. But he’s depicted as a slacker nonetheless. That’s GenX’s societal image as young adults. But dey ain’t dat no mo’. No, GenXers, even though many are still in their 30s, are — as a gen — ascending into midlife, just as Millennials are ascending into young adulthood. The gen moving into a life phase has the right/role/responsibility to redefine that phase of life. Millennials’ image of themselves and the Boomer attitude toward them is that they are upbeat, affluence-oriented and collegial. This Verizon commercial — as I see it — is too much of What Was. It’s stale.
Oh, and by the way: Did you notice the mega faux pas of the Verizon Guy? At about 14-15 seconds in, he answers affirmatively to a question, but shakes his head “no.” I find it difficult to believe that whoever is managing an account as large as Verizon’s doesn’t have a body language expert review this sort of stuff. Mercy.
7 Comments
May 27, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Hi,
Just wanted to say, “wow. look at this woman’s self-indulgent rant.” I was looking for the Verizon ad and your blog had it, so I visited.
But more than that, I disagree. The character you don’t like I took to me a nice, polite, young midwesterner – too polite to say “Hey! Don’t waste the sprinkles!” He’s far to softspoken to be a slacker, and far to young to be Gen-X, who are now mid thirties to mid fourties.
His ineffectual whiped cream line is just an expression of trying to make a good thing out of a bad situation, much as my Mother would. Oh, and she’s 65.
May 28, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Congratulations to everyone in that commercial; it means each and every one of them has a job, and I sincerely wish it is a job that each one enjoys.
Chances are, the actor with the featured line did far more to impress future employers with the magnificent facial repetoire he displayed. If he sold stock in himself, I’d invest.
Myself? I cannot bring myself to watch the ad because of the rampant “waster” of raw materials … reminds me of the milieu from which I retired long ago.
May 29, 2009 at 3:45 am
If you are that influenced by subtle body language to make or break a cell phone provider, you just might be a going-nowhere-fast slackard leftover stale Gen-X’er.
June 2, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Thank you so much for reminding me, yet again, how grateful I am not to be involved in your bubble of existence; however, I am empathetic for your plight. Relax, people like me were once people like you… you have peace and happiness in your future.
May 30, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Bejeezus, old robot guy. I’m influenced to use a cel phone provider by whatever one works with an iPhone. Yeah, I’m a GenXer, allright. Going nowhere fast cuz me and my Xers are so busy cleaning up the mess left by your gen and the two before. :-p
June 2, 2009 at 10:49 pm
And, I will add, looking forward to getting no credit (since that will all go to the Millennials) once we have done our part to clean up the mess…
June 3, 2009 at 6:33 am
Haha. And add to that, Dave, being blamed once The Crisis Era is over. Isn’t that right? The Nomad Gen (today’s GenXers) not only get no credit for actually cleaning up the mess, but even get blamed for the harsh decisions that needed to be made in order to get Society over the hump and through the mess to live to see another Societal Spring?