Who has seen the Lipton tea commercial with Bruce Lee and the Karate Kid? What is up with this? Does someone have a pure hate for the Karate Kid (Ralph) or Bruce Lee? Could the entire commercial be an intended joke towards the martial arts?
Why do you interpret it as “pure hate” for Bruce Lee (besides lumping him together with Ralph Macchio, a guy unworthy to lick the sweat off “The Dragon’s” punching bag)?
I would interpret what I said as this. First, Bruce Lee is getting his ass kicked. Next, some tea shows up in Bruce’s hand. From this point on, and even worse, the Karate Kid gets his ass beat and thrown out of the window. I see this as absolutely unrelated to Lipton’s tea product. What does a karate fight have to do with Tea!? Yet, at the same time, you have a true great, Bruce Lee, and a dumbass Ralph Macchio in the commercial together. What different ends of the spectrum that is. This is the only reason I grouped them together. But after all, that is the entire point of the commerical.
However, this commercial could represent a growing frustration and tension between America and China. :-p
The point is this: The commercial made enough of an impression that you had to ask about it. Next time you’re at the local Safeway buying canned iced tea (which isn’t exactly a culinary delight to begin with) you’ll think “Hey, this tea had the weird commercial.” Bingo. Name recognition. The commercial worked.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
I would interpret what I said as this. First, Bruce Lee is getting his ass kicked. Next, some tea shows up in Bruce’s hand. From this point on, and even worse, the Karate Kid gets his ass beat and thrown out of the window.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OK, here’s what I see. Bruce is kicking ass. Big, heavy sumo wrestler ass. He’s done piling them up, and he gets all tired. Karate Kid comes in, takes advantage, and knocks him into the gong. Bruce finds the ice tea, drinks it, and gets supercharged (well, at least he’s not thirsty anymore), and then beats the hell outta Karate Kid.
I don’t really see any insult to martial arts, just harmless humor.
I’m ready to meet Him
‘Cause where I’m livin’ ain’t right
Black hate white
White hate black
It’s right back to the same fight…
–DMX
Fer cryin’ out loud guys, lighten up! This isn’t a commercial about martial artists. It’s a commercial about movie stars/characters. Remember, this commercial was preccded by a similar boxing commercial featuring Sylvester Stalone as Rocky Balboa. It’s all done for laughs and is not intended to belittle martial arts of any kind.
BTW, anyone who has watched any Bruce Lee films knows that even The Dragon himself wasn’t above poking a little fun at his profession.
“The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.” -George Carlin
I think this one is the least annoying of all the Lipton commercials. Of course, some people can find a deep hidden meaning in a Three Stooges episode.
“Arnold from Happy Days?”
Slim is going to flip when he sees the one where Weezy from The Jeffersons mops up the bar with Bruce Willis. Her fatal mistake is throwing him into the cooler, which is stocked with…well, you get the picture.
Good animation, humorous (at least a little) “story” lines, and much irony makes these pretty good commercials. But I still ain’t drinking no canned tea.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
“You stopped moving on up in the 70s.”
They also had one with Frank Sinatra and another with Babe Ruth last year.
“[He] beat his fist down upon the table and hurt his hand and became so
further enraged… that he beat his fist down upon the table even harder and
hurt his hand some more.” – Joseph Heller’s Catch-22
I’ve only seen three of these ads. Are they being done by the same outfit that does MTV’s Celebrity Death Match or is it just a similar idea and style?
There are already several threads going in MPSIMS regarding TV commercials. This one is the most current:
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000319.html
Nickrz
GQ Mod