it's not a scene, it's a confusing commercial.

don't get me wrong, i kind of LOVE it because it's so confusing, but nevertheless, everyone's initial reaction to a "meathead" stereotype totally rocking out to the new fall out boy single on his cell phone while working out probably is: "wtf?"

aside: don't pretend you don't know what i'm talking about - everyone's seen this commercial, right?

but the confusing shouldn't be coming from the question, "why is a meathead listening to fall out boy?" because we should have all accepted by now that (while it is unsettling), fall out boy is loved by the dumb popular kids. it shouldn't be unsettling, because fall out boy is dumb and popular, yet it is, because the bands that inspired fall out boy were smart and unpopular. but oh well. i still love it.

the REAL confusion should come from this: are we supposed to want to buy this phone because of this commercial? isn't that the purpose of a commercial? to "move units"? because it seems to me that this commercial blatantly points out how dumb a number of things are: a) oblivious jocks with emo haircuts, b) listening to music on a cell phone, and c) fall out boy

let's dissect:

a) oblivious jocks with emo haircuts: he's a dumb happy goon, and that's fine, but is that desirable? is he really someone who should be selling me my next phone?

b) listening to music on a cell phone: his "lady" calls him, interrupting his pleasurable fall out boy rock-out experience. i love my "lady," but if she interrupts me rocking out, that crap better be on vibrate, otherwise all my air guitar mojo gets out of whack. why would i want a phone that stops my song, rings, and causes my friend at the gym to choke to death on a weight?

c) fall out boy: by association, fall out boy's new single moves even farther away from being a piece of late-90s emo/earnest-ironic inspiration and quickly heads toward the crass and substanceless pop-punk blink-182 portion of the whiny alt-rock spectrum. see the chart below:


click to enlarge and you will that the lower region of this graph indicates a vast space where good bands reside. and if it weren't for blink-182's break-up, fall out boy might have crossed paths on the chart. wait...maybe...this commercial is an indication of them taking over for the manchild jokesters? let it not be! what happened to boxcar racer?

This entry was posted by chris, on Friday, March 09, 2007. You can leave your response.