There's An Advertisement on My Banana!

from JoeUser Forums

My sons and I were having breakfast this morning and something in the fruit bowl caught my eye.  Our bunch of bananas had more than the usual name brand stickers on them.  There was a sticker that said "Go See Garfield The Movie" with a picture of Garfield on it.

That is disturbing in so many ways!  But what struck me first was the thought of the ads everywhere in the movie "Minority Report".  I think we are well on our way.  Every food item you can imagine has Shrek plastered on it.  Now you can't even get produce without an advertisement tacked on for good measure.

I think I will stick to coffee this morning ;)

4,326 views 28 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Your ad here.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top


It is getting rediculous now. Sports is a good example. Most major stadiums in the US are named after corporate sponsors. On TV broadcasts, the pre-game show, halftime show, scoreboard, and post-game show all have official sponsors. Last year Peyton Manning got in trouble because he was wearing a hat that wasn't official NFL merchandise on a TV interview.

Advertising is an important part of a free market, but they don't have to be everywhere.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I know just what you mean...darned Shrek has taken over my M & Ms, for pete's sake!! But seriously, the whole advertising/merchandising/film tie-in thing is getting way out of hand. It used to be a LOT easier to avoid, that's for sure.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
WOW that's craziness!!! Have you come across any of your mail that has the stamps stamped over with a little picture of shrek and the donkey?? I thought i was hallucinating the first time i saw that. What the hell is Shrek doing at the post office? Much less on my business mail???
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
greenfarie, I have indeed received mail with the "Greetings from far, far away" stamped across the postage.  Shrek is everywhere!
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
WOW that's craziness!!! Have you come across any of your mail that has the stamps stamped over with a little picture of shrek and the donkey?? I thought i was hallucinating the first time i saw that. What the hell is Shrek doing at the post office? Much less on my business mail???


YES! I got one of those last week...I thought it was completely insane!!
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Last year Peyton Manning got in trouble because he was wearing a hat that wasn't official NFL merchandise on a TV interview.


Just saw this....didn't know about Peyton, but I do know that John Kidna of the Cincinnati Bengals was fined for wearing a hat with a cross on it instead of the approved Nike hat that all players are supposed to wear for thirty minutes after game time. Crazy!!
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

We have bananas with the same sticker on them.  What's next, Harry Potter branded into my rump roast?

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top

What's next, Harry Potter branded into my rump roast?


Don't give them any ideas!


BTW, that made me almost shoot Diet Pepsi out of my nose!

Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
What's next, Harry Potter branded into my rump roast?


All they'd have to do is put his scar on the steaks.

-- B
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

BTW, that made me almost shoot Diet Pepsi out of my nose!


Yay!  I'm not the only person that does that!!!!


I like Froggy's idea of the scar too....

Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
A movie theater opened up near my house that doesn't show those damn TV commercials before the movies (but still has movie previews). I love it...

I've been waiting for some theater to realize that not showing those commercials could be a great way to get more business than the other theaters in the same area. (FYI -The ticket prices and food prices are the same as the ad nauseam theaters) This is now the only theater I will go to. Why pay to see commercials?

If you don't support the ads, they might go away....
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
If any of you play Yahoo! Games, you know that Yahoo knows where you live

After you sign in, they've added in a whole new page just for a full page advertisement. Here in Ohio, or at least where I am, I get an advertisement for Stand 7 out of 10 times. (Stand is that group against tobacco.) I don't think people in California, Minnesota, Maine, or Florida get Stand ads.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think that people actually enjoy the constant advertisement and enjoy looking for it. Otherwise there would be a huge outcry about it and it would end.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top

I'm also getting sick of celebrities speaking on talk shows about political issues and foreign affairs like they are some kind of experts.


I couldn't agree with you more!!  If others can't pay to advertise their own political views, why should celebrities be able to use air time to push their politics?  They might know how to "play one on TV" but that doesn't mean they actually know diddly squat and they certainly shouldn't be taken any more seriously than joe schmoe off the street..........but they are.


I do kind of like the Lightening bolt brand idea

Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
Advertising is so overboard now. Nothing is safe anymore. While I feel promotion is necessary for some movies (like indies that maybe only a few would see, like Super Size Me), most of the time it feels like too much. Hype is built, great expectations are set, and then it's disappointing once a person sees the actual product. Then there is question to the product's failure: people could've gotten sick of it, people can see through the hype or are disinterested in it.
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
I do kind of like the Lightening bolt brand idea


OK, I am now going to run to the copyright office and start my own brand of beef, "Mr_Frog's Lightning Steaks".

-- B
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
The one that bugs me is the NBA.com on the backboard of the basketball hoop that you only see if they sue a special aerial camera. I'm waiting for them to do it on the underside of the basket for the new floor cams they have....
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
I thought there were advertisements on pretty much all bananas, saying such things as "Dole" or "Chiquita Bananas". You don't think these were stuck on for the benefit of the consumer, do you?

As for how to combat it, I would think that would be fairly easy. If enough people stop buying the product (or alternatively, from the store that supplies it), the people that produce will either have to choose between stopping the advertisement or losing sales. Notice that the ads that were supposed to appear on the bases in the ML for the Spiderman movie never happened?

"The one that bugs me is the NBA.com on the backboard of the basketball hoop that you only see if they sue a special aerial camera." (Angloesque)

This had me wondering for a second, until I realized you meant "use" instead of "sue". I was thinking, aren't lawsuits already getting out of hand as it is?
(Ouch, ouch, ouch- you're making me think here)
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yeah, sorry about that. I can't edit my post for whatever reason.
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top


Reply #22 By: Emoticon Man - 6/16/2004 7:02:39 PM
I thought there were advertisements on pretty much all bananas, saying such things as "Dole" or "Chiquita Bananas". You don't think these were stuck on for the benefit of the consumer, do you?


Well, those are just name brands like Post cereal, GM cars, Folgers coffee, etc.  What does Garfield the movie have to do with bananas?!

Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's all part of the mind control being exercised by THEM over us. THEY are the ones causing your fruit to talk to you. THEY are everywhere
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
I agree to the fact that ads is getting overboard.

Evenally, everything will have ads, incuding people. (oops too late, there is adready logos on clothes!!)
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
All thats bad enough, but theres something a bit obscene in marking unprepared foods. Dunno why, but it just doesnt seem right.


jill, i utterly agree with you, and i also second little_whips' comment above. it does seem like an attempt to sully "natural" products with a "branding" of some sort. btw, none of this type of advertising has yet happened here in australia, but surely it can't be far away.

i read recently how a prominent sydney news reporter was accepting payments to film his "segment" of the news at certain places, in return for the publicity. he was effectively "advertising" all kinds of places of varying appropriateness. the faith that people put in newsreaders to tell only the utter truth seems to have a new use as an advertising tool. is nothing sacred ?

great article, jill. the world is indeed going crazy

mig XX
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
All thats bad enough, but theres something a bit obscene in marking unprepared foods. Dunno why, but it just doesnt seem right.


I'm with you there. It strikes me as particularly unusual - like when people dress up their poodles. Leave the poor 'nanas alone!

The thing that irks me the most about the advertising for Shrek is the fact that people are going to see it anyway. The first one was great, so you will go and see the second. I just wonder how much extra revenue they can be making from plastering Shrek stuff everywhere, compared to what they're spending.