Archive for the ‘animal elements’ category
April 18, 2022
I would probably be remiss if I did not mention that April 18th is National Animal Crackers Day. It’s probably not appropriate to refer to those of us of the furry persuasion as animal crackers, although being crackers has helped me retain at least some of my sanity…
Now Animal Crackers were first produced in England beginning in the mid-1800’s, and were imported into the United States until domestic production began in Pennsylvania by Stauffer’s Biscuit Company in 1871. Animal Crackers are technically not cookies but crackers, the dough being different.
In 1902, Animal Crackers began marketing as Barnum’s Animals, packaged in the little circus wagon boxes that most of us are familiar with. They originally sold for five cents a box, and were sold with a string cord handle so they could be carried, or hung on Xmas trees as ornaments!
Beginning in 1948, the product began being sold as Barnum’s Animal Crackers, and the rest is history. When I think of Animal Crackers, I’m inclined to think of the classic Marx Brothers movie by the same name…
And would someone puh-leese stop Shirley Temple from singing in my head now about Animal Crackers in her soup from the 1935 movie, Curly Top? – – Aieee, Cuteness overload!!!
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, furry, historical
Tags: Animal Crackers, National Animal Crackers Day
Comments: 4 Comments
June 24, 2021
If you melded The Masked Singer with The Dating Game and sprinkled in some psychedelic drugs, you might come up with something similar to Sexy Beasts, a bizarre dating series premiering on Netflix July 21st. The show is based on an earlier British series that also had versions run in Germany, Korea, and the United States.
The show’s prior core concept involved taking an eligible male or female and matching them on successive dates with three other singles, with all four individuals transformed by heavy prosthetic facial makeovers to resemble animal or mythological figures. Only the contestant’s face would be altered, the rest of their body being as it would normally appear. In the course of the episodes two of the three suitors would be eliminated, allowing the remaining person to go on a second date with the bachelor or bachelorette, both parties then unmasked.
The idea is supposedly to see if romance can be generated solely on the basis of personality if not allowed to see the true face of a prospective suitor. A scenario can then be generated where a woman wearing a panda head inquires of a man resembling a bull whether he has health insurance. We all know that this happens all the time…
Not all of the contestants will be furry, with some facially made up to resemble insects, aliens, monsters, or assorted supernaturals. We all know that the course of true love seldom runs smooth, after all. One’s “date” might turn out to be a real dog, but then presumably you’d at least have a new best friend…
Ah well! In the search for a sexy beast, if nothing’s ventured, nothing’s gained. You might, after all, find one of your own kind.- – Do you know any sexy beasts? Might a few of you out there be one? Time to ‘fess up…or maybe not. Feral is as feral does, after all. And what might be a suitable soundtrack for this series? Perhaps You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate! 🦊
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Categories: absurdities, animal elements, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, fantasy, furry, television, twisted reality
Tags: "Sexy Beasts" series
Comments: 10 Comments
May 31, 2021
In the past as now, there were furry icons who represented a brand, and memorably served as spokesmen. Back before Esso gas became Exxon, there was the tiger used to admonish motorists to “put a tiger in their tank,” the tiger representing power and performance. A promotion was even done where stuffed tiger tails that could be affixed to gas caps were available to customers as visible proof that they indeed were driving with such a tiger. This was back in the days when fuel attendants would routinely clean your windshield and check your oil without being asked! Don’t hold your breath waiting for such amenities today. The tiger himself was an impressive dude rendered with attitude and fine attention to detail; rather awesome, actually.
The sadly nameless Esso/Exxon tiger was predated by the Kellogg’s product icon of Tony the Tiger, and there were distinct similarities in depictions of the duo. Despite this, the two tigers co-existed amicably until 1992 when trademark infringe wars erupted as Exxon tried to open Tiger Marts. It’s Tony the Tiger who seems to have best survived the Tiger Wars, and may still readily be seen today…
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, animal presence, animal spokepersons, anthropomorphic, commercials, famous furries, furry, furry commercials, iconic, television
Tags: vintage furry advertising
Comments: 5 Comments
March 6, 2021
It’s a charming commercial, with a bit of old world flavor. The Three Little Pigs of fairy tale fame are busy in their kitchen, making breakfast…and Lordy, they’re making French toast with Nature’s Own bread! I love French toast, and this looks more than good enough to eat, so gimme, gimme, gimme! Pleasant low-key European-style dining music is playing in the background. I’d be on board for this…
But wait…the Big Bad Wolf is also in the background, with a mighty exhalation of his classic breath! Is he about to “blow the piggies” house down, and feast on the diners therein?! Nah, not to worry…the wolf is blowing out celebratory candles on a giant stack of french toast thoughtfully prepared by the three piggies for some special occasion. They all applaud the wolf’s efforts, and then everyone is sitting down around the rustic table to eat hearty. All appears harmonious and well, but…
“Hey, got any bacon?, asks the wolf. This is followed by silence and blank stares by the pigs, and you can almost hear the crickets. “Just kidding!,” the wolf then reassures his company. He was only having fun with the piggies, you see, even if the joke was in questionable taste. All is well here with the predator/prey breakfast repast, despite wolves having a bad rep. Don’t kill the cook, I always say…
Nature’s Own: Goodness is in their nature. It’s “goodness that brings everyone together.” And even a wolf can be capable of peaceful coexistence, apparently. It’s the wolves who pretend not to be one that you have to watch out for…
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Categories: absurdities, alternative realities, animal elements, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, commercials, furry, furry commercials, furry television, humor, television
Tags: Goodness: Three Little Pigs, Nature's Own Wolf and Pigs ad
Comments: 4 Comments
December 10, 2020
FanDuel Sportsbook is an on-line gaming company that in a recent commercial shows the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to deliver your winnings as quickly as possible to you; they’ve trained a peregrine falcon to deliver your winnings, on the fly as it were. The falcon swoops down to the splendid outdoor location of a patron who retrieves his winnings from a tube attached to the bird’s leg, and before departing, the falcon swipes the guy’s sandwich, taking it with him for his return flight!
“Honey, I’ve come into some money,” the man tells his presumed off-screen wife. “And I’m going to need a new sandwich!” Undoubtedly, some will raise objections about this commercial. Should the guy pictured be gambling? And should his wife tell him to make his own damn sandwich? He does have legs, after all…
I, for one, champion the peregrine falcon, who at least gets a sandwich as the wages of his forced servitude…fly free, magnificent bird!
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, avian, commercials, feathered friends, furry, furry commercials, twisted reality
Tags: FanDuel falcon, FanDuel Sportsbook, Payout falcon
Comments: 1 Comment
June 9, 2020
Bears have not gotten their proper representation or respect in commercials, with the toilet paper obsessed Charmin bears a case in point. One cannot readily imagine them functioning in a species-specific parallel world either, as the Chantix turkey appears to do so effortlessly in a number of memorable commercials. That may now change, as at long last, we are finally given a peek into a world where bears have meshed into the trappings of human civilization, courtesy of E*TRADE.
These bears calmly prowl the aisles of a supermarket on their hind legs, sniffing at cantaloupes and filling their shopping carts with generous amounts of honey, appropriately in those little bear-shaped clear containers. A bear family stops at the fish counter where they’re waited on by one of their own; there’s even a disabled bear who whizzes by in a motorized shopping cart! The cashier is likewise a bruin, calling for a price check on a honey container that stubbornly refuses to scan while the customer moans his annoyance.
“If this is your idea of a bear market,” we hear in the closing voice over, “maybe trading’s not for you.” We’re advised not to get mad, but rather get E*TRADE, and get more than trading…and I’d like to get more glimpses into the universe of these very relatable bears! They’ve evolved so far from the days of Yogi…
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, animal spokepersons, animals, anthropomorphic, commercials, furry, furry commercials, television, twisted reality
Tags: anthropomorphic bears, bears in commercials, E*TRADE bears
Comments: 3 Comments
March 18, 2019
For many years now, insurance companies like Geico and Progressive have been producing clever and memorable commercials to tout and lure us to their services. Arriving a bit late to the commercial fray, Liberty Mutual has now produced commercials that incorporate an animal representative in the rather unlikely character of an emu…
These ads invoke the “buddy cop” series of the 1970’s, exemplified by such shows as Starsky and Hutch; Robert Blake’s series Beretta even included a cockatoo as Beretta’s companion.
In the Liberty Mutual commercials, the bird becomes even more of an active partner, riding shotgun with his human partner Doug while wearing aviator sunglasses! Called the LiMu Emu, this bird rocks, although in the Reflections ad he does have a bit of a problem interacting with his own image in a window glass, showing those bobbing, weaving, and pecking behaviors that birds sometimes manifest when confronted with reflections that they consider to be another bird. Partner Doug explains that the LiMu Emu spends so much time time interacting with humans on insurance customization that he doesn’t know quite how to respond to another bird, but that he’ll “figure it out.”
Now I know how to distinguish my own reflection, but do confess to a weakness with distractions posed by shiny things. At any rate, we can rely on the new dynamic duo of the LiMu Emu and Doug, and as Beretta might have reminded us, “Keep your eye on the sparrow…”
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, commercials, feathered friends, furry, furry commercials, television, twisted reality
Tags: Liberty Mutual emu, LiMu Emu
Comments: 5 Comments
March 11, 2019
I have often walked past the lobster tank in my local supermarket, pitying the poor doomed creatures within and wishing that I could set them free, like some kind of crustacean messiah. In a recent Geico commercial, I can imagine one such liberated lobster enjoying his freedom, sitting in the corner of a hot tub, his claws spread wide as he enjoys the tub jets. There are also two newlywed humans in the far corner of the tub with him.
“I can’t believe it!,” says the guy as he looks at his phone. “That there’s a lobster in the tub with us?,” questions his new wife. It seems that the guy is more incredulous about how much they saved on car insurance with Geico, and how easy it was to do it. The mellow lobster, voiced by H. Michael Croner, asks if the couple is staying at the hotel, and congratulates them when he learns they’re newlyweds. Marriage is not for him, however, as he’s afraid of committment…he’s been boiled alive! The hotel chef appears at this point, looking for the lobster and causing him to duck underwater. We can understand when the lobster reappears, and proclaims that the chef is “the worst!” If you look carefully, the lobster appears to redden somewhat as the commercial progresses…
This cool crustacean can hang out in my bathtub anytime, and should the Lobster Liberation Army ever stage it’s move, I’m maintaining my innocence…
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Categories: advertising, animal elements, anthropomorphic, aquatic, Brilliant but twisted, commercials, fantasy, Invertebrates, television
Tags: lobster hot tub party
Comments: 3 Comments
February 18, 2019
Dancing feline animorphs are coming to the big screen in 2019… you have now been duly warned! The movie version of the musical will boast some diverse and major stars as cats, including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, and Ian McKellen…that’s right, Magneto is gonna play a cat, although appropriately enough a theatrical one. What would be really cool would be if he’d play a cat with mutant powers. Perhaps Catwoman from the DC universe could also make an appearance, and we’d really have a blockbuster!
But I digress…the British-American cooperative venture, several years in the planning, is set to come to theaters in later December 2019…
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Categories: animal elements, animal presence, anthropomorphic, furry, furry films
Tags: "Cats" movie
Comments: 5 Comments
January 18, 2019
Dean Winter is back as Mayhem for Allstate Insurance as the “overly confident dog walker” who would walk 100 dogs “if his paws were big enough to hold all the leashes.” Well, he does have quite a herd of dogs leading him, and all that fur makes it hard for him to see where he’s going, causing him to take quite a header on a loose brick, his face impacting with a sickening thud on unyielding brickwork. The homeowner viewing the accident via camera comments that Mayhem is not Kevin, his usual dog walker…Mayhem responds that he is today. Our man of infinite sorrows adds that unless the homeowner has Allstate Insurance, paying for his medical bills is gonna be “ruff.” A dog sweetly licks Mayhem’s battered face…
In my twisted mind, I’d like to see some kind of apocalyptic standoff between Flo of Progressive Insurance and the Mayhem dude where he’d cast all kinds of calamities at her (fire, flood, lightning, raccoons, etc.) which Flo in her flawless white outfit would simply shrug off. It would be kinda like a battle between two X-Men, the irresistible force versus the immovable object. Flo’s sister Janice could be indifferently chewing gum in the background, her attention riveted on her cell phone… (fade to black)
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Categories: absurdities, advertising, animal elements, commercials, furry
Tags: Allstate's Mayhem, overly confident dog walker
Comments: 1 Comment
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