This Week in Elitism: Hating local "celebrities" but loving commercial success
While my fellow writers have been traveling to glitzy locales, hobnobbing with the rich and famous (I assume Qualler and Brigitte will hang with Siegfried & Roy this weekend), I've been attempting to introduce myself to the Minneapolis social scene. I was looking forward to some glitz and at least a modicum of glamor, but this is what I found...Last night, I attended a benefit for Dress for Success, a non-profit that gives business clothing, career counseling, and confidence support to low-income women in the workplace. Held at Restaurant 7, downtown, there was an indulgent buffet of sushi and desserts, a silent auction, and a runway show of local fashions. The crowd was very suburban, full of 50-somethings who thought sequenced animal print dresses were so "in."
The event was hosted by a local news anchor, Amelia Santaniello of WCCO, whose primary role seemed to be "shushing" the room full of party-goers to remind us how serious the cause was, then, when we kept talking, to shame us by getting the DJ to defend her right to chastise us and repeat her calls for quiet.
It was all very amusing to me because I have a tendency to despise local celebrities, especially local news anchors. It's a personal intolerance because they have such effected personalities on-air, then get so many perks even though they're interchangeable. And it makes me mad that someone would think having one of them host would be a draw for me. It's a vicious cycle of unwarranted dislike. The entire event didn't stack up to my pretentious expectations, but it was definitely worth it to hear the tearful testimony from a charity recipient. However...
Imagine my delight when I had a celebrity-sighting, and one of my favorite kinds at that, a celebrity from a commercial! The minute I walked in the door, I ran right into Dick Enrico, a man whose name (in Minnesota) is ubiquitous with used exercise equipment and a caricature of a face (see above).Dick Enrico's online infomerical
This made me wonder, though: what other celebrities do I love primarily from their "commercial" success? Here's my list:
1. Justin Long of the Apple ads. Cute, slightly emo-hipster, all Mac elitist.2. Any child from a Welch's grape juice ad.
3. The new Ditech saleslady, who seems to be out of the Twilight Zone.
4. The Serta sheep.
5. Kool-Aid man.
Share your favorites. Who's won your devotion... with their blatant promotion?
Labels: celebrities, Nicole, This Week in Elitism
This entry was posted by Nicole, on
Saturday, September 27, 2008.
You can leave your response.
I hated almost all local news anchors as well until I heard Mike Pomeranz say as the closing credits went up after a KARE11 broadcast, specifically following a story about Wisconsin holding onto the title of "Most Cheese Producing State of 2007," saying sarcastically, "How do we pack so much genius into 30 minutes?"
That was the highlight of my local news-watching life.
I do like me a little Mike Pomeranz, too;) Honestly, I think he's very Clark Kent; he's off saving people after the broadcast's done.
i think covergirl had this one spokesperson, drew berrymohr, barymoore? i dunno, but she was really cute and stuff. i hope she gets a movie deal or something after those ads stop running.
leave a response