Tatterdemalion
02-06-2009, 05:52 PM
So i was in a store today, buying a copious amount of soft drinks ('cuz that's what I do)m when I stumbled across this strange new product. It's the sort of thing that makes you stop and wonder if reality has actually become a satire of itself.
That's right, it's a product from the Nestle company called something along the lines of "Butterfinger Buzz," advertizing itself as having all of the caffeine of the leading energy drink, all contained within a 2 oz chocolatey, peanuty candy bar (I'd fear salmonella, but apparently Butterfinger isn't made from peanut butter).
Now, thereare3 several things here that leap out at you right away. Firstly, there's the absurdity and preposterous nature of the whole thing. Secondly there's the humor to be hound in the stark, blatant and overt way that the candy industry has, along with the caffeine industry, essentially admitted to the fact that they're pushing the superdrug of the 21st century. I mean, forget about the energy drink a while back that called itself "cocaine," this is just taking it one step further. Only with less irony.
Also, I have to wonder how they actually get the caffeine inside of the candy bar. I have an image in my mind of a syringe full of caffeine injecting a serum into the candy bar.Which not only is creepy, but is probably frighteningly accurate.
Third, this begs the question, why was this approved by the FDA?
But if that's not enough, there are two other pieces of information that awe-stike and dumbfound me.
One of them is the warning on the label of the candy which reads:
Not recommended for pregnant women, children, or persons sensitive to caffeine.
It's finally happened. They've finally invented a candy bar which has to come with the warning "may not be safe for children."
Something is terribly amiss.
Also, even more astonishing, is this little piece of gold from the Butterfinger Buzz website:
The NEW limited edition BUTTERFINGER? Buzz bar combines the BUTTERFINGER? taste you love with as much caffeine as the leading energy drink. Help spread the word by using your head! Get shaved and stenciled, then upload your photo here, and if we approve and post your submitted photo, you'll get a coupon for a free BUTTERFINGER? bar. Get Your Buzz On!
It's finally happened. I mean, I literally had to read that over several times, in order to make sure I understood the words "shaved and stenciled," "if" and "coupon."
A company is actually telling their customers to shave their heads and write the name of their product into their hair, thus turning them into walking billboards, with the incentive being that people who do so may or may not get a free candy bar. And not even a candy bar, they get a coupon for a candy bar which they then have to go out and buy for themselves.
Is it just me, or are most candy bar consumers far more masochistic than I had previously imagined.
Also, another part of the website says "Download your stencil here, then slap it on your shaved head and apply paint."
This is actually some sort of slang term or metaphor, right? That is, they don't actually expect people to literally do what they're describing, right? Please tell me I'm being naive, please.
In any case, I would seriously like to hear your thoughts on this. I know this may sound odd, considering that rather than just naming a topic and saying "discuss," I myself did a great deal of talking about it, but really...yeah.
That's right, it's a product from the Nestle company called something along the lines of "Butterfinger Buzz," advertizing itself as having all of the caffeine of the leading energy drink, all contained within a 2 oz chocolatey, peanuty candy bar (I'd fear salmonella, but apparently Butterfinger isn't made from peanut butter).
Now, thereare3 several things here that leap out at you right away. Firstly, there's the absurdity and preposterous nature of the whole thing. Secondly there's the humor to be hound in the stark, blatant and overt way that the candy industry has, along with the caffeine industry, essentially admitted to the fact that they're pushing the superdrug of the 21st century. I mean, forget about the energy drink a while back that called itself "cocaine," this is just taking it one step further. Only with less irony.
Also, I have to wonder how they actually get the caffeine inside of the candy bar. I have an image in my mind of a syringe full of caffeine injecting a serum into the candy bar.Which not only is creepy, but is probably frighteningly accurate.
Third, this begs the question, why was this approved by the FDA?
But if that's not enough, there are two other pieces of information that awe-stike and dumbfound me.
One of them is the warning on the label of the candy which reads:
Not recommended for pregnant women, children, or persons sensitive to caffeine.
It's finally happened. They've finally invented a candy bar which has to come with the warning "may not be safe for children."
Something is terribly amiss.
Also, even more astonishing, is this little piece of gold from the Butterfinger Buzz website:
The NEW limited edition BUTTERFINGER? Buzz bar combines the BUTTERFINGER? taste you love with as much caffeine as the leading energy drink. Help spread the word by using your head! Get shaved and stenciled, then upload your photo here, and if we approve and post your submitted photo, you'll get a coupon for a free BUTTERFINGER? bar. Get Your Buzz On!
It's finally happened. I mean, I literally had to read that over several times, in order to make sure I understood the words "shaved and stenciled," "if" and "coupon."
A company is actually telling their customers to shave their heads and write the name of their product into their hair, thus turning them into walking billboards, with the incentive being that people who do so may or may not get a free candy bar. And not even a candy bar, they get a coupon for a candy bar which they then have to go out and buy for themselves.
Is it just me, or are most candy bar consumers far more masochistic than I had previously imagined.
Also, another part of the website says "Download your stencil here, then slap it on your shaved head and apply paint."
This is actually some sort of slang term or metaphor, right? That is, they don't actually expect people to literally do what they're describing, right? Please tell me I'm being naive, please.
In any case, I would seriously like to hear your thoughts on this. I know this may sound odd, considering that rather than just naming a topic and saying "discuss," I myself did a great deal of talking about it, but really...yeah.