Bran on the Brain

I'm sure everyone remembers the SNL gem Colon Blow from 1989 (if not, you can see it for free here). So why did it take 18 years to come out with this?

I was reminded of this after seeing a recent installment of the All-Bran campaign starring John McEnroe unleashing scatological innuendo on the viewing audience (they have a disappointingly innuendo-free website here).

This really got my juices flowing, so to speak, on the subject of honesty in advertising. Well, maybe not honesty per se, but straightforwardness. On a list of issues we humans typically need to deal with, #2 is very near the top of the list. And I am a strong believer in the magic of fiber. Still, if I had a concern that a product such as All-Bran might be able to alleviate, I'd have a hell of a time knowing that from a typical commercial without having somehow developed an understanding of the euphemistic vocabulary of the toilet. Even laxative commercials are advertised to address "bloating" and promote "regularity." Regularity? I'm pretty sure I was well into my teens before I knew what "regularity" was supposed to mean, let alone more clinical terms like constipation. It's not stuff you learn in kindergarten.

And the viewing audience is dumb, right? Aren't commercials meant for the lowest common denominator? If so, why aren't commercials like they are in the movie Crazy People, where toilet paper is advertised as "for wiping your ass with." (By the way, if you're looking for a source that thoroughly plumbs the depths of poop culture, try this -- but don't say I didn't warn you.)

But to get out of the toilet for a second, what does it say about commercials generally when the imagery becomes a little edgier, perhaps a bit cruder, definitely funnier, and yet still relies on euphemisms and innuendo? The entertainment value in the All-Bran commercial, like Colon Blow before it, is its unabashedness in acknowledging what the product does. But it still does it in an indirect way. It amuses us because we're used to commercials being shy and inoffensive, but does it do a better job advertising the product? Are we more likely to buy it?

Maybe not. Subsequent commercials have backpedaled significantly, like the McEnroe one, which contains a few cheap jokes but focuses more on the "All-Bran Challenge," a shameless ripoff of the already shameless "Special K Challenge" (which is a whole other topic I shouldn't get started on). If the first commercial didn't resonate with the spending audience, was it because it was too low-brow, or too high-brow? Too honest, or not honest enough?

Just something to think about the next time you have to drop the kids off at the pool.