Grania sent me a tweet with this “Trumpybear” commercial in it and said that it was a real commercial for a real product, as verified by Snopes.
And, sure enough, Snopes says it’s a genuine product for sale. The details:
Exceptional Products, the Texas company that markets Trumpy Bear on television, also uses infomercials and television advertising to promote products like Hairdini, Save a Blade and Plaque Attack.
In October 2017, the commercial began running on 10 TV networks, including Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, according to the advertising and media news web site Ad Age.
The product consists of the 22-inch tall stuffed animal and a 28-by-30-inch American flag blanket that can be stored in a zipped pouch inside Trumpy Bear himself, according to the product web site. Trumpy Bear costs $39.90, which can be paid in two installments of $19.95.
We asked Exceptional Products about sales of Trumpy Bear, but the company declined to provide any details. Nonetheless, we know people have been buying the toy, in particular as a Christmas present according to several social media posts.
And yes, “President” Trump was born on Flag Day in 1946.
The world has gone insane when you can’t tell the difference between a Trumpybear commercial and a Saturday Night Live skit.
For the love of Caesar! 😹
Does the price include a box of straight pins and an instruction manual by Marie Laveau?
LMAO
I gather the Teddy Bear was named after Rooseveldt, but Trumpy Bear appears in the realm of the puppet Chucky.
Ah, whenever anybody mentions something being named after a Roosevelt, I get the image of Sam Seaborn explaining how the Roosevelt Room in the White House is named after FDR with an enormous painting behind him of Theodore Roosevelt.
It seems like they are trying to appeal to both sides. The syrupy voice on the video and the Trump-like hair and a tie on an otherwise normal-looking teddy bear make me think this is satire. On the other hand, my guess is that some Trump supporters may not get the joke.
“…some Trump supporters may not get the joke.”
That statement could apply in any number of realms.
L
Great marketing by sellonTV.com [EPI] of Dallas – as Paul says they’ve driven the ball down the middle – avoiding obvious satire [small paws & orange fur for example]
Surprisingly dull other products such as the aforementioned Plaque Attack pet tooth cleaner spray
Is it made in China?
Sure. The first $19.95 is for the bear. The second payment is the tariff.
Yes it is – it’s a selling point
Seriously? I think it’s serious…aimed at Trump’s core. But it’s interesting to know that it’s so addled, it’s immune being satirized.
That absurdity has been around for at least two years, since the start of this excremental Administration.
I remember the first time I saw the commercial; I never knew my eyes could circle 360 degrees.
Yes, commercials for this have been around for a long time now…
from the start my reaction has been mixed:
Admiration for those that manage to so successfully extract money from stupid people, and a feeling of general sadness for the country.
Vermont Teddy Bears did all the notables in 2016. Bernie, HRC, Obama, Trump, and even Jeb.
You gotta stop calling these people “conservative”. They don’t want to conserve anything. They are right-wing radicals, and they want to radically reshape western civilization for their own benefit. Unfortunately they’ve been succeeding for many decades. Calling them “conservative” gives them a legitimacy they do not deserve.
If you go down in the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today
You’d better go in disguise!
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain
Because today’s the day the
Trumpy Bears have their picnic
Picnic time for Trumpy Bears
The little Trumpy Bears are having
A lovely time today…..
WTF did I just watch?
A snippet of a society that is beyond parody.
The motivation behind this clip isn’t ideology. It’s to go viral with free advertising. It seems to be succeeding.
However, the should include a warning not to get it wet.
Yep, absolutely right. It’s actually quite brilliant.
“However, the should include a warning not to get it wet.”
That made me guffaw.
It’s a brilliant piece of marketing, appealing to both the hopelessly deluded Trump people and the alienated, ironically minded GenX — and just in time for the gift-giving holiday season.
And continuing our stranger/stupider than fiction…republican in a runoff against her black democrat opponent has made a joke about public hangings…I’m sure she’ll still win, in spite of, or perhaps because of it, as she’s in Mississippi, the Land of Lynching (not their real nickname but…).
The guy who appears in the ad and identifies himself as a “veteran” is named “Warholic”?
“The world has gone insane when you can’t tell the difference between a Trumpybear commercial and a Saturday Night Live skit.”
Exactly what I was thinking before I got to that sentence!
I suspect that the target demographic of the ad whouldn’t know that SNL was satire either.
I’ve been predicting la morte de l’ironie (and of satire, too) at least since election night ’16. What’s left of political humor now is broad farce and parody.
So true. On rare occasions, I pass The Daily Show while flipping channels. Just a few years ago, the writing was so sharp and incisive, but now it’s just Trevor Noah mugging and saying exaggerated things that Trump might say. How many times can people laugh at him saying, “it’s going to be the biggest, the best, believe me, it’s going to be amazing,” etc.?
It seems like comedy, like media and, increasingly, pop culture generally, is becoming less about enjoyment, structure, wit, and intelligence, and more about making one side clap and cheer. Every joke on The Daily Show and Samantha Bee’s program isn’t designed to make you laugh by way of some brilliant punchline, but to make you shout “yeah! Those other guys suck! You tell ’em!” That’s not comedy; it’s cheerleading.
Bill Maher, for all his faults, still does actual jokes most of the time, and I like most of them. And there are still plenty of great standup comedians out there. It’s just the popular stuff that has gone down the tubes.
And, like you said, irony and satire is a hell of a lot harder to do when the world has become a parody of what it was just a few years ago.
Hey, did you check out that Youtube channel I recommended? What did you think? I’m assuming you did, since I recommended it and I’m so great and so you obviously felt compelled to watch everything they’ve ever posted because I’m just that great.
Holy Jesus Christ on a bicycle. Is that for real? How OTT can you get?
It’s a classic poe, anyway.
As a couple of commenters said, even if it is satire, some tRump supporters will doubtless miss the joke.
I think somebody should submit it to Cute Things Exploding.
cr
I bet made in CHinah (as the orange one would say).
The way things went on Wall Street today, it may not be long before “Trumpy Bear” refers to the stock market.
Does it come with a free steak?
Only in ‘Murka. Land of the free, and the home of the perpetual supply of blokes with more dollars than sense.
I’m not American, but isn’t using the American flag as a blanket a rather serious breach of the flag code? Not to mention storing it wadded up inside a plush toy?
I’m UK, but I’ll have a go… Under the first amendment you can cut, disfigure, burn whatevs the US flag. There have been many attempts to enact a ‘Flag Desecration’ amendment [by the usual suspects normally] & it’s failed to pass up to now. At the state level there’s a handful of states with laws HERE’S FLORIDA RULES for example. No idea how this can be the state rule when it goes against 1st amendment…
Those rules relate to the Florida flag* or the CONFEDERATE flag. No mention of protecting the US flag… 😎
* Which, btw, has a saltire on it just like the Confederate flag, what a surprise.
cr
Thanks, I mis-linked – here are da roolz in Florida for the US flag:-
SOURCE
Oh, I missed that. That’s an awful lot of rules about flags, isn’t it? They were very exercised that someone might disrespect some flag or other.
cr
Tere’s five states like that & it’s the usual southern conservative constituency I’m guessing.
“Under the first amendment you can cut, disfigure, burn whatevs the US flag. There have been many attempts to enact a ‘Flag Desecration’ amendment [by the usual suspects normally] & it’s failed to pass up to now.” I read the same thing in Wikipedia; but then I see this: regarding penalties for flag desecration https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/700
How then to reconcile this? If it had been abrogated, I think Cornell would have noted that fact. During the Vietnam war, I recall people being arrested for desecrating the flag; and even now that occurs (whether legal or not). But I also see the sons and daughters of those who supported the Vietnam war and were rabidly against any use of the flag other than its proper display, wear the flag or parts of it a fashion statement — leather jackets, pants, you name it.
But then under the “Notes” tab of your link: U.S. Code › Title 18 › Part I › Chapter 33 › § 700 – Desecration of the flag of the United States; penalties …
I see this:
I forgot to click “Notes.” People are still being arrested, but settlements like this http://chicagoist.com/2017/09/19/man_arrested_for_burning_flag_gets.php (incl. legal fees) should be a deterrent to overzealous law enforcement officers. And, of course, when ‘patriots’ cut up the flag or reproduce parts of it for a fashion statement, that’s another matter altogether. Nobody’s arresting them.
very true
Professor ceiling cat’s birthday is barely a month away…I think he’s dropping us all a hint about what he’d like to receive
Commercialize everything! The American Way!
(There are lots of wonderfully good things about the US and Americans, but this is not one of them. ;))