When classic fairy tales are told by advertising agencies they kind of lose some of their zip and verve. In fact they kind of lose just about everything, as well as their credibility since advertising agencies are there to sell and tell as cheesy a story as possible. Take for instance the lock ad above playing off of the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Locks you can purchase for less than five bucks each at a hardware store are going to cost you about double without shipping and handling. Thank goodness it looks like a spoof, otherwise it’d be something to worry about when thinking about who would really buy these.
Ad agencies are definitely running on a dose of crazy when they’re churning these out, but it’s kind of cool really when you look at it. The Hansel and Gretel story updated for today is rather amusing since once the witch learns that kids aren’t so into candy and are instead into smartphones you can almost hear the ‘ha ha’ theme from the Simpsons in your head. Does anyone remember how stories like these used to be frightening back in the day? When we were kids and the thought of a witch luring us into a candy house where she could fatten us up and then toss us in an oven actually gave you nightmares? Kids today don’t worry too much about stuff like this because it would mean taking time away from their phones, and that just can’t happen. To heck with candy, kids want to look at text messages, games, social media, and that kind of stuff. Maybe if the witch made her house into one giant Apple store where kids could just come and zone out she might have a little more luck.
Painting Cinderella as the victim and then the grifter is kind of an interesting proposition. It makes you look at the legend a little differently really and realize that it could have gone a much different way than it did in the first place. Who’s to say that Cinderella didn’t want everything that anyone else would want and just got tired of waiting for it? She’s human after all, and there are times when human beings don’t worry about crossing the line to get what they want, especially when they’ve been pushed just a little too far. Seeing fairy tales in a different light is certainly something interesting to look at since it takes the perceptions a person has clung to for so long and dashes them away to show them something new and possibly more exciting.
Or it just shows them something silly and expects them to laugh. Either way it’s something new that doesn’t require too much thought since the base idea is there. Fairy tales are always up for different versions and representation. It’s the nature of a tale to change as needed when needed so as to serve a purpose that might be the same or slightly different from what it was initially intended to serve. Get that?
Follow Us
