The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Two Signs The World Was Messed Up Before Covid …

A while back I wrote about how McKinsey advised a client that the best way to boost their sales was to incentivise their distribution network.

That wouldn’t be so bad if the client I was referring to wasn’t the infamous Sackler family – creators of Oxycontin – and the result of this decision wouldn’t be that tens of thousands more people would end up becoming addicted or die from what has been labelled as one of the most deadly over-the-counter drugs ever produced.

But I recently saw something that could be just as evil.

Maybe not so directly dangerous, but messed up all the same.

This …

What the absolute fuck?!

It’s bad enough someone decided to use Paw Patrol to sell some shitty kids drinks … but to then make that drink come in a bottle that has been purposefully packaged to resemble a champagne bottle is just asking for trouble.

How did this get through?

I mean, isn’t this just a modern version of candy cigarettes?

No doubt whoever is behind this horrible use of exploitation and manipulation is being watched with admiring eyes over at McKinsey right now.

But if you think that was bad, there’s worse.

Something that has confused me to the point where it feels my brain may explode.

Sure it doesn’t involve addiction or death – at least not directly.

And sure, it doesn’t revolve around making kids get comfortable with iconography that in later life may have negative affects on their health and wellbeing.

But at the same time, it’s even more messed up than all that.

Something that makes you question that values and tastes of all of humanity.

Here we go …

What the hell?

I mean seriously, what the hell!!!

No doubt Vaynerchuk will now be releasing copious amounts of video footage of him telling artists how they need to follow his ‘system’ to earn ludicrous amounts of cash for their work.

Who would pay this?

Worse, who would pay this for an NFT of his doodle?

And why? Why would anyone think this is a good idea.

Hmmmmmn, unless the person was Vaynerchuk in an act of PR gaining?

Now I’ve said it, you can picture it can’t you.

To assume any other reason is basically an admission we’re in end of days.

So while I apologise for ruining your week from the first day, please remember – I didn’t come up with this crap, I only write it.


20 Comments so far
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This is scarier than halloween.

Comment by Bazza

bet you the smug fuck paid for his own nft so he could hype it up. thats all he is. smoke and fucking mirrors.

Comment by andy@cynic

+1

Comment by DH

Hahaha … I literally said the same thing to someone recently. And if he didn’t, the fact that people could imagine him doing that say’s a lot about him and his approach to self-publicity – accepting that is entirely all our prejudice.

Comment by Rob

70’s and 80’s record company strategy.

Comment by George

Tactic.

Comment by John

and paw patrol needs to come and arrest the exploitative fuck who is making this shit in their name.

Comment by andy@cynic

Probably Gary V.

Comment by George

Haha … probably.

Comment by Rob

“I view myself as a very creative and artistic person, but this is way bigger than me. … It represents a paradigm shift and the consumer is intrigued.”

Comment by John

If he represents what creativity and being artistic is, creativity and art is done.

Comment by DH

Is anything bigger than Gary V’s ego?

Comment by Rob

The Paw Patrol bottle makes me so angry.

Comment by Mary Bryant

That they have to print “non alcoholic” on the bottle shows the people behind this knew exactly what they were doing. Why were Nickelodeon thinking when they agreed to this?

Comment by George

Money.

Comment by DH

Yep … me too Mary.

And as George says, that they place ‘non alcoholic’ on the bottle shows their intent on what the bottle was supposed to communicate.

Interestingly, I’ve just had a can of the new volume Coca-Cola Zero [440ml] and it looks and feels exactly like a beer can. That is probably more to do with the material needed to hold the liquid than any intent to communicate something ambiguous [especially as there is no mistaking it is a Coke Zero product] but it does appear a lot of brands are trying to make the separation between kid and adult brands more blurred.

Comment by Rob

WTAF?

Comment by DH

Two very different stories united by my level of revulsion.

Comment by Lee Hill

If that paw patrol bottle doesn’t contain wine it’s animal piss.

Comment by Billy Whizz

Well apparently the flavour is grape … so they’re preparing kids for wine or wee.

Comment by Rob




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