Dairy Queen Commercials

Hi, folks. I just saw this:

Yeah. I've actually seen it before. In fact, I worked on one of these new "man-friendly commercials." I worked on this one:

Huh? So, they chose a mascot who has traits similar to Chuck Norris? It doesn't make sense. They took the phrase "so good, it's ridiculous" and then decided to make a ridiculous commercial. But, even ridiculous needs to have some sort of grounding.

Another one:

I want to like it. I do. But, what I can't help but think is that they are jumping on the same train that the Old Spice, Dos Equis and Axe Body Spray commercials have engineered for several years now. However, it feels like they're not the only ones to attempt to cash in on hyper bravado advertising. Machismo, ridiculous machismo, can be pretty funny. And, as we all know, funny is memorable and pleasant memories are what ad execs want you to think when remembering their product.

Except, I think we've been inundated with manly man-ness lately and I feel like DQ pulled this change up out of no where. I mean, I feel like they just had the disembodied mouth ads running and now have switched to this mustachioed mascot out of know where. And the set-ups feel like thet were suggestions written by teenagers and pulled out a hat by, well, Chuck Norris. Well, maybe not Chuck, himself, but his nephew.

I mean, why??

I want to laugh, but it's so bizarre that it makes it too silly. I feel like they've taken the subtlety out of what makes silly humor sellable. Clearly they are trying to hit a demographic - the "grew up in the 80s and remembers it" demographic. Mary Lou Retton? Has she been relevant even in an obscure way since the 80s? They could've put anyone in that pinata, but they chose her. I guess that's what made her a more attractive choice to pick.

Randomness and wackiness is great, but there has to be something that grounds the entire situation so that we can set the bar of realism in order to guage how crazy things are. All I'm getting is complete bizarreness smothered in testosterone. That may work for men's deoderant, since those are products that are supposed to define a man. But, for a burger or a soft-serve shake? It's a stretch.

I don't recall ever seeing this commercial, but it is pretty hilarious without being overly-bizarre, and I wish they stuck with this level of wackiness: