I guess Mickey is old school.. We have a cute lil girl now..........
Within a kitchen’s pantry, a goofy looking guy holds a Life Cereal box while taking a deep breath. Old western style music plays in the background. The man bolts out of the pantry, and stares down a young girl (Caroline Grace Hughes), and states, “Hello again, Mikey.”
The girl seems disinterested while another girl says, “Life! She won’t eat anything healthy,” The man who seems to be the father of the children fills the bowl with Life Cereal, and milk, slides it down the table to the little girl with rolled up pigtails.
The young girl takes a spoonful of the cereal, smiles and giggles. The father, and the other young girl seems relieved; while more upbeat music plays in the background.
This is the scenario of the recent Life Cereal commercial, named “The Standoff,” and based on the classic 1972 “Mikey Likes it” commercial. When viewing the commercial one cannot help to notice that something seems off for fans of the original commercial.
The new ‘Mikey” Life Cereal Ad, 2019
Noticeably, that a girl is called Mikey. I don’t know about you but it doesn’t seem too common to call a girl Mikey. I do not know of any female called Mikey. It’s very unconventional.
This seems to be a frequent theme lately, namely, rebooting classic, and beloved pop culture items of the past. Mainstream media, and entertainment tries to reboot the culture by trying to give it a little twist of difference to a classic fan favorite. In this millennial age these types of changes seem unoriginal, or placed there to spark some type of emotional response.
Changing Mikey from a boy to a girl without changing the name seems to fit this bill to a tee. I don’t want to get too controversial with this article, but there are many themes in various forms of media today where males are replaced with females; but not done in a way that is flattering to either sexes.
Trying to give a female masculine traits does not celebrate the great parts that make a girl or woman special- which is her femininity. It is quite apparent in the commercial that they are stripping her of her female traits.
For example, having her hair pulled back with the short pigtails; this is an obvious visual that is made to have her look more like a boy; long hair is generally a noticeable part of a female. Little girl “Mikey” is also wearing Original Mikey’s red turtleneck sweater which then completes the replacement of the old.
The fact of the matter is that this commercial was made to inspire controversy and debate; this seems to be the modern way of advertising these days. If the company were truly proud of their commercial then comments would not have been turned off, and the like to dislike ratio would have been made visible. Also, I can’t help but notice that the new “Mikey’s” picture is not on the boxes of Life Cereal or it’s website.
I find the classic Little Mikey 1972 commercial to be the best. It’s not just because it is the best, it’s because it seems to connect more to the audience while watching it.
Old video.......
http://willynillyreview.com/this-aint-mikey-life-cereals-new-commercial-has-no-taste/
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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