You can be a washed up TV dectective from the 80's this Halloween
While it about time for the media to roll out the stats on how Halloween has shifted from a kids holiday to an adult holiday (ie, retail booze sales on Halloween are only second to New Years), these items recently caught my eye at Target.
These are costumes for grown ups and I was quite taken by the pop culture/branding savvy of these costumes. While there has always been the various adult costumes subtypes -pirates, prison convict, enamel sexy maid that are effectively evergreen Halloween items, these costumes are a little more with it in a jaded Gen X way. I especially like that that the DEVO Radiation suit outfit comes with a Spanish explanation of “costume adulte." for that big Mexican DEVO fan base. The purist in me, must however, point out that the radiation suit look predates the "whip it" time frame and the "energy domes" came 2 or three image changes after the radiation suits...Tastefully, the costume doesnt' come with a whip either. But I really love that both the Magnum PI and Knight Rider come with wigs and the Knight Rider costume comes with a "watch" with a voice chip of KITT yammering various phrases.
On a more disturbing note, you can also get some of Burger King’s current advertising icons as Halloween items as well.
While I find the ‘King’ ads extremely interesting from their rather odd tone (Giant headed person shows up wordlessly and offers a food item to some what shocked man (I don’t think I’ve seen a women as a protagonist in these ads)…i.e., a lumberjack alone in the forest cuts down a giant tree, after the tree falls the King is there with a sandwich on a silver platter…quizzical lumberjack tries sandwich and happiness ensues…closing shot of lumberjack and the King doing a log roll.----The sandwich in this particular ad is called, I kid you not, a “MEAT'NORMOUS” sandwich. From a BK press release “The MEAT'NORMOUS™ Omelet Sandwich piles three full slices of crispy bacon, two slices of smokey ham and a sizzling sausage patty between two omelet eggs, two slices of American cheese and a toasted specialty bun. This reminds me of the Simpsons “ good morning burger “We take eighteen ounces of sizzling ground beef, and soak it in rich, creamery butter, then we top it off with bacon, ham, and a fried egg. We call it the Good Morning Burger.”. However, as unhealful as meatnormous sounds, in researching these links I undercovered this heart attack on a plate…the “ Luther burger ”, which is a burger served with krispy kreme donuts as the "bun".
On a similar note, albeit a bit dated by internet standards (a whole 18 months ago), you can check out this wired news piece on BK’s non-traditional marketing with their “ subservient chicken” campaign. Wired News-Porno Hen Hawks for Burger King
BK has also another unusual campaign for their new chicken "fries" (thin fried chick strips) involving a slipknot -like band with a chicken motif (so much so that slipknot has threaten to sue BK over this). The band’s name is, I kid you not….coq roq, yeah cock rock. Like the King ads, these ads are noticeable for their low key marketing…the TV ads seem more like 28 second of a music video and 2 second of product shot. Another ad had the band members getting into a car crash and upon seeing a young woman with some chicken fries on the other side of the road. Various band members try to cross the road only to be hit by cars (they turn into puffs of chicken feathers when hit) but the studly lead singer makes it across the road to the clearly awestruck woman’s suprise.
These are costumes for grown ups and I was quite taken by the pop culture/branding savvy of these costumes. While there has always been the various adult costumes subtypes -pirates, prison convict, enamel sexy maid that are effectively evergreen Halloween items, these costumes are a little more with it in a jaded Gen X way. I especially like that that the DEVO Radiation suit outfit comes with a Spanish explanation of “costume adulte." for that big Mexican DEVO fan base. The purist in me, must however, point out that the radiation suit look predates the "whip it" time frame and the "energy domes" came 2 or three image changes after the radiation suits...Tastefully, the costume doesnt' come with a whip either. But I really love that both the Magnum PI and Knight Rider come with wigs and the Knight Rider costume comes with a "watch" with a voice chip of KITT yammering various phrases.
On a more disturbing note, you can also get some of Burger King’s current advertising icons as Halloween items as well.
While I find the ‘King’ ads extremely interesting from their rather odd tone (Giant headed person shows up wordlessly and offers a food item to some what shocked man (I don’t think I’ve seen a women as a protagonist in these ads)…i.e., a lumberjack alone in the forest cuts down a giant tree, after the tree falls the King is there with a sandwich on a silver platter…quizzical lumberjack tries sandwich and happiness ensues…closing shot of lumberjack and the King doing a log roll.----The sandwich in this particular ad is called, I kid you not, a “MEAT'NORMOUS” sandwich. From a BK press release “The MEAT'NORMOUS™ Omelet Sandwich piles three full slices of crispy bacon, two slices of smokey ham and a sizzling sausage patty between two omelet eggs, two slices of American cheese and a toasted specialty bun. This reminds me of the Simpsons “ good morning burger “We take eighteen ounces of sizzling ground beef, and soak it in rich, creamery butter, then we top it off with bacon, ham, and a fried egg. We call it the Good Morning Burger.”. However, as unhealful as meatnormous sounds, in researching these links I undercovered this heart attack on a plate…the “ Luther burger ”, which is a burger served with krispy kreme donuts as the "bun".
On a similar note, albeit a bit dated by internet standards (a whole 18 months ago), you can check out this wired news piece on BK’s non-traditional marketing with their “ subservient chicken” campaign. Wired News-Porno Hen Hawks for Burger King
BK has also another unusual campaign for their new chicken "fries" (thin fried chick strips) involving a slipknot -like band with a chicken motif (so much so that slipknot has threaten to sue BK over this). The band’s name is, I kid you not….coq roq, yeah cock rock. Like the King ads, these ads are noticeable for their low key marketing…the TV ads seem more like 28 second of a music video and 2 second of product shot. Another ad had the band members getting into a car crash and upon seeing a young woman with some chicken fries on the other side of the road. Various band members try to cross the road only to be hit by cars (they turn into puffs of chicken feathers when hit) but the studly lead singer makes it across the road to the clearly awestruck woman’s suprise.
posted by O.G. at 11:06 PM
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