It has to feel good to churn out stuff like this: I was going to blog a moral evisceration of Diet Coke's latest marketing campaign here in Israel until a quick Google search turned up Diet Coke feel-good smackdowns going back at least to 2002 -- apparently I'm pretty late to the party. Times like this really drive home the price of living here in Back Waterburg: even the most obnoxious marketing campaigns take three years to get to me. Nevertheless, I've decided that writing about this would make me feel good, so against my better judgement I'm going to blog this stale crust of a topic anyway, consequences be damned!

I'm just astonished Diet Coke felt we all needed so much encouragement. It isn't like we need to overcome all that many inner reservations to do such a hideously repulsive thing as "what feels good." So Coca-Cola Corp must be pretty convinced that some external factor is standing between us and our pleasure, and like the late Rosa Parks, they feel they are in a position to embolden us to take a stand. A stand for what? If you want to see what The Man is denying us, what we need to fight for, just look at the ad. How long has it been since you've had the courage to smile, in public? How about to jump? Or, dare I say it, to dance (unless you're Kevin Bacon of course)?

The catharsis is overwhelming -- to finally be given permission, after all these years, to finally participate in the simplest of pleasures. I've wanted to smile so much but had forgotten how. Thank you Diet Coke. There is so much more I'd really like to do, and I'm sure I'm not alone:

// posted by AbbaGav @ 11/29/2005 12:04:00 AM |  |  | Permalink | EmailThis!
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
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