Is This British Humor?
I’ve been watching SKY TV lately and I’ve been struck by the similarity between American and British commercials - especially midday commercials for the out-of-work. It’s full of spots for lawyers, insurance companies, diet snacks, banks and easy loans. Sound familiar? Evenings, the commercials change tone a bit to add feminine wash, laundry products, department stores and men’s fragrances. All quite normal and expected.
But there’s this one commercial that just freaks me out. I haven’t yet caught the product name, but it’s anthropomorphic sausages that look like SlimJims and the full-size sausage is looking out the window of a home at an approaching school bus as a small, snack-size sausage (presumably, the larger sausage’s offspring) jumps with excitement. The larger stick of dried meat asks “snack-size” if he’s ready for his first day of school as the happy little sausage enthusiastically jumps into a lunch box, then the parent salami quickly slams the box shut and growls, “… and your last!” then cackles gleefully.
I watched it a few times without really watching and thought, at first, that the “adult” sausage was saying, “At last!” with the relief that a SAHM feels when her underfoot toddler finally reaches an age to spend a few hours away from home with age-appropriate fellows and didn’t give it a second thought. Then, one night I really watched it and realized just how twisted the spot is.
So, I ask you - Is this British humor or just advertising gone awry? I’ve watched some British telly and, while I don’t always “get” all the jokes, none of them seemed quite so barbaric so I can’t help but think this is out of character.
On a slight tangent, though still TV-related, my hubby recently installed a second satellite dish on our roof-top terrace so we could receive a few British channels and I swear it’s going to kill me! I’m a sucker for CSI, Law & Order and other shows of the genre but they all come on late at night and I find myself staying up until 1 in the morning waiting to see “whodunit.” I’ll get over my obsession soon - TV never holds my attention for very long - but it’s been so nice to be able to understand most of what I’m watching. I say most because I honestly can’t understand some of the people with various British accents. There’s a sandwich shop commercial with two men - one white-collar worker and a blue-collar worker - and the only word that I think I understand is “honeymoon” but it’s quite obviously not that word because - hello! - why would these two be talking about a honeymoon when the ad’s about sandwiches?
You’ve all been very sweet to hang around this long to listen to my crazy ponderings… chat later!
Tschüss!
Filed under Stuff and Rants |8 Responses to “Is This British Humor?”
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Gina Marie - you’re welcome :))) The sandwich ad is for a chain of bakers called Gregg’s, and Sassy - yes, the sausage is indeed Peperami. The ad isn’t exactly a one-off, there has been a whole series of them along the same lines, with the punchline ‘Peperami - it’s a bit of an animal’ which I guess is meant to imply that it’s a bit wild… All the ads for this product have been rather strange really. The worst one, I thought, was where the sausage flung himself into a blender! That was a bit gruesome! I believe the character of the sausage was based upon Vyvyan from ‘The Young Ones’, a popular British comedy programme from about 20 years ago, but I don’t suppose you would have seen that? The ad voice-over is done by the actor who played him. Vyvyan was a punk student who used to do bizarre self-destructive things - for example in one episode he leaned out of a train window. His head was cut off by a train going the other way, and his headless body jumped out of the train and kicked the head along the track. I don’t know if this is ‘typical’ of British humour, (I don’t know if ANYTHING is!) but I can’t imagine this programme being made anywhere else :))) Best wishes, June
Is it the peperami advert???
lol I’m in the UK and don’t always “get” all the humour so I wouldn’t worry too much :o)
Sassys last blog post..Busy mum of 3
June!
Thank you so much for clarifying that for me! It’s been bothering me that I just KNEW I was listening to English but couldn’t understand a word of it. And thanks for clearing up that the sausage ad is a one-off.
I’m not sure whether to laugh at that sausage commercial or be afraid… of course, I’m watching Silence of the Lambs right now, so perhaps that commercial is right up my alley!
Ha ha! I’m in the states and haven’t seen it, but when I do have to watch commercials I apprecuate the unique ones.
Stephanie (schock77)s last blog post..Ok… so maybe I DID fall off the face of the earth!
Now you have me intrigued! I am british, and watch mostly british tv - what are the ads for? I can’t say I have seen them, but we do have quite a dry sense of humour.
JanMary, N Irelands last blog post..Paris calling Twitter? and the celebrity I spotted!
Hi! I’m not surprised that you don’t completely understand the very extreme accents (from the North of England) used on the sandwich ad. You’re right about the ‘honeymoon’ though :))) The whole ad goes like this: Guy no.1 asks guy no. 2 if he had a good holiday in Mauritius, guy no.2 says yes and describes all the wonderful scenery etc. They go into the sandwich shop and guy no.1 buys a sandwich. Guy no.2 asks guy no.1 for a bite of his delicious sandwich… Guy No.1 refuses and complains that guy no.1 didn’t take him along on the trip. Guy no.2 reminds him that the trip was his honeymoon! As for the salami ad, yeah, this is just a bit weird :))) best wishes, June.
What an intersting story…now I’m curious about this sausage commercial and guys eating sandwiches talking about a honeymoon. I guess its one of those things that’s makes you go hmmm
Personally I’ve given up on foreign TV. the British stuff isn’t bad but you’re right about the humor, although DH and i are Monty Python fans.
When we were back in the states in March we bought a Slingbox and hooked it up to my in-laws computer. Now we can watch US TV, Although we need to get a TIVO on it in August. We watch it on the computer but it seems to be working well so we are talking about hooking it up to the TV.
I don’t watch that much Tv anymore either but I want to watch what I like when I want. PLUS, Tv in Singapore is censored, even weekly programs. Also, like you probably have all the programs from the US are delayed about 4-5 months.
Ok I can rant about this topic as well so I will quite.
By the way, I loved those flowers in your Lo yesterday!