It's Not That Easy Being Green... Is It?

[filkertom]

I'm really not sure how to feel about this. It's tastefully done, I suppose, but... well, you know what I mean.

Comments

[brianh]

The Kermit car commercial? It irked me at first... but, eh. They did a decent job on animation, and at least it's for a hybrid, right? It still bothers me, but I knew it was coming after the pizza commercials. >_

[naja-pallida.livejournal.com]

I've seen it numerous times on tv, and it still irks me. The first thing that came to my mind was a cheap shot, "Hey look, the first hybrid car powered by a gasoline engine mated to Jim Henson rolling over in his grave."

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

My problem is the ad says "it's easy to be green and still be a man with a big, manly SUV!" So, of course, Kermit goes hiking and climbs a mountain to discover the Escape. It's an ego-assuager for insecure guys who like driving those road hogs.

I'd much prefer a more general ad: Kermit (and the viewer) discover that it is, in fact, easy to be green: you can help the environment a lot by driving a hybrid.

[nelladarren.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed.
Did you guys have the commercial with the car speeding on some kind of dry desertlike cracky surface, stopping all of a sudden; then you saw that the car stopped for a frog and then you saw that Kermit had been the driver saying something like "Hi there, little friend!".
It wasn't as weird as this one here, but I also thought "erm...?!".

[youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com]

... I actually didn't hate it. It was good to see Kermit on TV; yes, it's commercial and that sucks, but was it any worse than that movie with Ashanti? I'd rather see Kermit kayaking than Kermit easing on down the road.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

on the one hand I can understand the "sense of betrayal" - however.

Let us not forget that the Muppets got their START doing commercials. LaChoy Dragon, anyone? We wouldn't HAVE Kermit in the first place, if Jim Henson hadn't used his puppetry skills to hawk stuff.

So I won't really complain about the various commercials.

[sdelmonte]

I abhor it. I cannot imagine that Henson would have ever used Kermit for ads of this sort in the first place. Or that he wold have endorsed any SUV, or that he would have accepted the half-truth about an environmentally sound SUV.

And I cannot stand the misinterpretation of "Bein' Green."

[umbran.livejournal.com]

The muppets are magical, yes.

But the muppets would not exist, and we'll see no more of them, if they don't make money. Jim Henson got his start in commercials. The Muppet Show was good, family entertainment, but let's be clear - it was there to make money.

So, while it saddens me a bit, better that then no muppets.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

While I think SUVs are a real problem, in many ways, I do think they handled Kermit well. But will this sell more SUVs, or cause a backlash? Remember that one commercial using a 60's counter-culture song that actually caused people to _think_ about the contradiction going on? Sales actually went down when that commercial played, not because people were offended, but because they remembered the whole song and thought "Why am I buying this corporate crap when the message is to _not_ buy corporate crap?"

You gotta be careful when using a cultural icon ;-)

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Ah, which commercial?

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Oops, forgot to add a question: Which Tom Smith song do you think should be used for a commercial? Other than Domino Death, that's too easy.

My choice; "Chuthulu Lite FM" for a new antidepressant.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Better this than the V-chip stuff from a few years back. That made me twitch much more than this does.

[daundelyon.livejournal.com]

It's a heck of a lot better than those wretched Pizza Hut commercials.

[calico48103.livejournal.com]

I've seen the full commercial - it's actually kind of cute, and while Kermit is sacred to me (I have the Time Magazine issue saying goodbye to Jim Henson framed under glass in my living room), promoting hybrid vehicles... yeah, I approve.

[calico48103.livejournal.com]

I have to say, after reading many biographies and hearing Brian Henson talk about his father, I beleive Jim would have approved hybrid vehicles mightily and therefore probably agreed to Kermit supporting them. Besides, watching Kermit mountain bike, kayak, and rock climb was cute. And they were OUTDOOR SPORTS.... not car cruising, or sitting inside staring at the idiot box. So you could look at it that way as well...encouraging people to get out there as another way of "being green"

We all want to keep our childhood muppets sacred, but remember Jim.... watch the new video releases and listen to Brian talk about his dad, try and get a hold of the Time Magazine article that interviews his family about what kind of man he was. If it was for the right reasons.... he usually did it. He was a good, open minded, man.