'Hey, Ralph, How Much Is a Copy of Orgasm?'

Jacob Sullum | February 3, 2009

This two-minute Bud Light spot, which did not make it to the Super Bowl, owes a lot to a scene from Bananas, but it's pretty funny. I still have no desire to drink Bud Light, and I'm not sure what message Anheuser Busch is going for. Consume our product, and you too can be publicly humiliated?

Imagine the complaints from the Parents Television Council if the commercial had aired as planned and a pixelation malfunction had revealed the vibrator in all its glory. Despite the protagonist's embarrassment, the spot speaks to the mainstreaming of porn, a theme the PTC probably would have found even more objectionable.

[via 10 Zen Monkeys; thanks to David Cassel for the tip]

Comments

|2.3.09 @ 6:48PM|#

"Hi... ummm... let me have some of those porno magazines... large box of condoms... a couple of those panty shields [quickly] and some illegal fireworks [back to normal] and one of those disposable enemas. Ehhh... make it two."

economist|2.3.09 @ 6:48PM|#

What's the point, again?

|2.3.09 @ 7:12PM|#

The spot would have been even more poignant if, instead of porno, he had purchased the "commemorative" edition of Rolling Stone with Obama, dear leader, on the cover.

I pray to Obama. Prayer changes things.

Taktix®|2.3.09 @ 7:23PM|#

This is true, according to the following equation:

Before Prayer: X

After Prayer: X+2

Where X = minutes of life wasted. Change you can believe it!

Ramsey Bouvier|2.3.09 @ 7:24PM|#

I don't know what you have planned for tonight, Peachy, but count me out. Yeeeesh.

MAX HATS|2.3.09 @ 7:32PM|#

That was funny. I can't imagine how that sells beer, but that was funny.

|2.3.09 @ 7:38PM|#

This was freaking funny! I've-just-got-up-off the-floor funny!

|2.3.09 @ 9:05PM|#

That was hilarious.

|2.3.09 @ 9:06PM|#

Anyone here aware of the uproar in Tucson after comcast accidentally broadcast 30 seconds of porno during the final moments of the superbowl?

Pepe|2.3.09 @ 9:10PM|#

Funny but kind of an old joke just done raunchier. Besides Bananas, I've seen it done in a few movies with the character buying porn, or condoms or something else they might be embarrassed by.

|2.3.09 @ 9:48PM|#

They have to bleep "vibrator"? Really?

Head|2.3.09 @ 10:09PM|#

i nearly shat myself.

mark|2.3.09 @ 10:45PM|#

@ economist: This is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back - come for the excellent cultural coverage, beautiful design, stay for the libertarianism.

Alberta Libertarian|2.4.09 @ 12:15AM|#

This is the best shyte ever.

mark|2.4.09 @ 2:52AM|#

really? this ad was disappointing.

|2.4.09 @ 7:46AM|#

They have to bleep "vibrator"? Really?

Maybe you're used to that sort of smut in Sodom, I mean Seattle, but out here in Real America™ we have a sense of shame.

Abdul|2.4.09 @ 7:59AM|#

I was drawn in by the promise of pr0n, but I stayed for the cheap Asian stereotype.

|2.4.09 @ 8:18AM|#

The cheap Asian stereotype was the only funny thing about this commercial.

Mad Max|2.4.09 @ 8:43AM|#

'the spot speaks to the mainstreaming of porn, a theme the PTC probably would have found even more objectionable.'

(a) Your point about the mainstreaming of porn may be valid - I will hardly dispute it, because it seems all too true. But I notice that this particular ad didn't run. Why is that?

(b) The PTC may be the most articulate folks out there on this sort of issue in broadcasting, but they're by no means the only ones who are bothered by the 'mainstreaming of porn.' The PTC seems an implausible target for demonization, but I suppose that the demonization comes from them being the ones who flood the FCC with complaints.

We can have a discussion over government censorship, especially *federal* censorship, of the airwaves, but that's not the same as giggling over porno and looking on it as a sign of cultural progress.

robc|2.4.09 @ 8:57AM|#

BTW, has anyone else seen the commercial for a vibrator that is running on some cable channels. I dont know what channel I saw it on, but it wasnt one of the big cable channels. However, it also wasnt late night, probably prime time timeframe. Kind of surprised me.

Abdul|2.4.09 @ 9:09AM|#

BTW, has anyone else seen the commercial for a vibrator that is running on some cable channels.

It was Nickolodeon and technically, Tickle Me Elmo is not a sex toy for anyone but R. Kelly.

..|2.4.09 @ 9:12AM|#

It has to be a spoof. Nobody makes 2-minute commercials,
and no national brand would ever use porn so overtly.

|2.4.09 @ 11:10AM|#

That Chinese woman behind the counter was great.

"Ahhhhhh, porno."

|2.4.09 @ 11:42AM|#

"That Chinese woman behind the counter was great."

Yeeaaahhh, she was! (hehe)

Mad Max|2.4.09 @ 12:23PM|#

Here's a wild guess - the Budweiser corporation wasn't really interested in putting this ad on during the Super Bowl - they are trying to put it all over the Internet as 'the ad which didn't make it to the Super Bowl,' or some such thing.

I know, it's really cynical to suggest that a company would use such tactics to promote its product.

If my hypothesis is correct, at least the Budweiser corporation seems to think that the material is inappropriate for a Super Bowl ad - or at least that the public would think so.

Wintermute|2.4.09 @ 12:43PM|#

Video has been nuked.

jtuf|2.4.09 @ 2:58PM|#

The commercial was funny. I'm not in a rush to see more porn on TV, but I wish porn peddlers had more freedom to sell their wares. My local town council blocked a porn seller who wanted to set up shop in my town. The Democrats were making speaches about how they don't want that stuff in our town. I found their comments rediculous. Three of the four towns surrounding us have places to buy or rent porn. One of them was frequented by our town's judge. Why not let a porn shop open up within walking distance so I can save the gas?