Does This Offend You? [Chris Farley Edition]
Author: DavidJones // Category: Ethics, Movies, Pop CultureDid that commercial offend you? Many people are answering “Yes.”
DirecTV has started using famous clips from movies to promote their products. Using movies such as Alien, King Kong, and Back to the Future, the ads appear to be an exact scene from the movie, but during the scene one of the characters steps “out of character” and gives a brief promo for the satellite company.
An NBC affiliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area had this (sarcastic comment) to say: Indeed, Spade could be at home with DirecTV. Instead, he’s with the ghost of his famous friend, who died as a result of a drug problem that almost certainly stemmed from massive insecurities, and making a (bad) fat joke about him. HILARIOUS!
Here’s what The Consumerist had to say: Is anyone else skeeved out over the DirecTV ad?…It’s bizarre that Spade, a close pal of Farley’s went along with this. He and DirecTV must have miscalculated the ad as a tribute to a great movie moment rather than a disturbing, insensitive money grab.
What do you think? Are you offended by the commercial? Is David Spade exploiting Chris Farley? Is this “too soon?” Or is this a fitting tribute to a late actor and comedy from 1995?