Tony the Tiger in Tibet

Been winding me up for days now, that advert where Tony The Tiger goes to Tibet to learn "ancient arts of discipline, patience, and presumably marketing" from the Tibetan Monks.

Firstly, you can almost envisage the ad agency meeting - "Tibet's in the news what with the Olympics - lets see if we can flog some frosted cereal products off the back of that. We'll just skirt around the whole oppressive regime, enslavement of the people, and dictatorship issue, we've got breakfast products to sell!". In the apartheid years did they run a "Tony goes to a Soweto township to learn the ancient art of sitting at the back of the bus and being regularly beaten" campaign? It simply strikes me as taking an exotic sounding corner of the world and using it for commercial gain with no reference whatsoever to the oppression of the people there. If the campaign was "Tony visits David Beckham to learn how to bend it", then David Beckham would expect to be paid handsomely for his apparent endorsement of sugary snacks - what do the people of Tibet get? Their circumstances don't even get a mention.

Secondly, as they explicitly mention the Monks of Tibet, they're trying to connect the whole Buddhist religion to Kellogs Frosties. Now I confess I don't know a whole lot about Buddhism, but I doubt their sacred texts make many references to sugar frosting. How about "Tony visits the Archbishop of Canterbury to learn the ancient art of getting more sugar into the nation's youth", or "Tony visits the Immans of Mecca to learn the ancient art of selling frosted breakfast products".

Tony the Tiger visits China, gets shot and has his dangly bits ground up to make aphrodisiac. Now that's an ad-campaign I could get behind...

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Tony the Tiger visits China, gets shot and has his dangly bits ground up to make aphrodisiac. Now that's an ad-campaign I could get behind...

Absolute quality!!

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Tony the Tiger visits China, gets shot and has his dangly bits ground up to make aphrodisiac. Now that's an ad-campaign I could get behind...

i already want to buy it !
brilliant.

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Been winding me up for days now, that advert where Tony The Tiger goes to Tibet to learn "ancient arts of discipline, patience, and presumably marketing" from the Tibetan Monks.

Firstly, you can almost envisage the ad agency meeting - "Tibet's in the news what with the Olympics - lets see if we can flog some frosted cereal products off the back of that. We'll just skirt around the whole oppressive regime, enslavement of the people, and dictatorship issue, we've got breakfast products to sell!". In the apartheid years did they run a "Tony goes to a Soweto township to learn the ancient art of sitting at the back of the bus and being regularly beaten" campaign? It simply strikes me as taking an exotic sounding corner of the world and using it for commercial gain with no reference whatsoever to the oppression of the people there. If the campaign was "Tony visits David Beckham to learn how to bend it", then David Beckham would expect to be paid handsomely for his apparent endorsement of sugary snacks - what do the people of Tibet get? Their circumstances don't even get a mention.

Secondly, as they explicitly mention the Monks of Tibet, they're trying to connect the whole Buddhist religion to Kellogs Frosties. Now I confess I don't know a whole lot about Buddhism, but I doubt their sacred texts make many references to sugar frosting. How about "Tony visits the Archbishop of Canterbury to learn the ancient art of getting more sugar into the nation's youth", or "Tony visits the Immans of Mecca to learn the ancient art of selling frosted breakfast products".

Tony the Tiger visits China, gets shot and has his dangly bits ground up to make aphrodisiac. Now that's an ad-campaign I could get behind...

Tony's dangles are G-g-g-great!

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Been winding me up for days now, that advert where Tony The Tiger goes to Tibet to learn "ancient arts of discipline, patience, and presumably marketing" from the Tibetan Monks.

Calm down dear, it's only a commercial

Advertising effects every single thing we do in virtually every part of our lives, in fairness, so a commercial is often more than that. For instance, the latest VW ad running in China features a girl in a miniskirt next to a girl in ceremonial dress- this is important because sex apparently now sells even in China and the agency (which to survive must have their finger on the pulse, especially in overseas markets) is trying something new; again, a sign of change.

Tony the Tiger in Tibet is an example of the agency getting it very wrong; the advert to me portrayed that the tiger is mentally insane, what with him unable to not say his catchphrase all the time. Maybe the next ad will have an insomnia-ridden Tony mumbling 'they're great' in a straitjacket?

Originally Posted by Grinch

Tony's dangles are G-g-g-grea t!

Damn you Grinch!
Beat me!
Steve

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Tony the Tiger visits China, gets shot and has his dangly bits ground up to make aphrodisiac. Now that's an ad-campaign I could get behind...

Wouldn't that be too much like crunchy nut cornflakes for Kellogg's to get behind?!?!