# Popeye's Chicken commercials with "Bruce Bruce"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 15, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055 "2005-08-15T04:16:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/21 "2005-08-15T21:18:50Z")

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> [@Askia](#):
>
> How niggardly of you to notice.
> 
> What? I can say ‘niggardly.’ I’m half anal-American.

[Sadly, you’re more on-point than you might realize.](http://www.adversity.net/special/niggardly.htm)

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**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/22 "2005-08-15T21:52:59Z")

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We get the commercial here too, I haven’t heard a peep. Usually the commercial just reminds me I haven’t had any Popeye’s in a while. I didn’t know the guy was a real comedian until I saw him on Def Comedy Jam last month. The other comedians were so unfunny he kind of got lost in the noise.

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**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/23 "2005-08-16T00:32:13Z")

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Having now watched the commercial, I’m not really sure what people are supposed to be up in arms about. To me, the worst part about the ad is that it’s comedy watered down to the point of unfunniness, which is itself kind of amusing when you consider that Bruce Bruce was already including Popeye’s in his routine in a positive light (something like “if you want to upset me, don’t call me a fat bastard … tell me Popeye’s is closing and I’ll burn this theater down!”).

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**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/24 "2005-08-16T02:23:44Z")

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I had no idea that guy was an actual comedian, but I _hate_ that commercial: I don’t think that morbidly obese people are ever funny. Bruce Bruce, Chris Farley, big fat comediennes (I know there are some, I just can’t think of any names), etc. – I have never found them or their acts funny, especially the ones who use their weight in the humour. Sorry, I just don’t think that being that fat is inherently funny. And Fatty McHeartattack hawking fried chicken? Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn’t even stand to watch Rueben Studdard on the _American Idol_ clips I saw: anyone who looks that unhealthy shouldn’t have made it through the damn audition, I don’t care _what_ his voice sounds like.

> [@Larry Mudd](#):
>
> First of all, the punny name is stupid on the most practical level, because “latte” means milk, and “moo” is presumably meant to allude to milk, too. Sloppy.

I doubt that the average consumer bothers to contemplate the etymology of the name. To most folks, “latte” has come to be synonymous with “coffee.” Also, Dunkin’ Donuts has (or had) a product called Coolatta, and I’ve no doubt that Dairy Queen’s “Moolatte” name is quite deliberate.

> [@](#):
>
> That’s not it, though. If you’ve got a coffee-and-milk combo dessert, what the frick are you thinking giving it a nonsensical name that’s only one drifting-syllable away from “mulatto,” an offensive word with bestial undertones.

I think that you (and the others who agree with you) are stretching just a bit. “Mulatto” is not much in use anymore, and I’d venture a guess that most of the same people who think that “latte” means “coffee” wouldn’t even know what “mulatto” means. Timothy Noah from _[Slate](http://slate.msn.com/id/2103845/)_ says that “it seems inconceivable that the resemblance would be deliberate,” but I think it’s quite conceivable that Dairy Queen’s marketing folks were thinking about the Coolatta, and not the idea that some consumers might mispronounce their product’s name and accidentally order a person of mixed race.

> [@VCO3](#):
>
> Look, I’m not offended by the ad campaign - I’m just shocked that black people aren’t offended by it, as it caters to and reinforces minstrel show stereotypes.

I disagree that there is anything racist about the commercial; however, what’s up with saying that _you’re_ not offended, but you think that _others_ should be? What kind of logic is that? :dubious:

> [@UrbanChic](#):
>
> Would all be right with your world if Zombie Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. lurched his way to Popeye’s headquarters and started feasting on the gooey cranial goodness of their marketing VPs?

Now _that’s_ funny! 😃

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**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/25 "2005-08-16T02:56:18Z")

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> [@Misnomer](#):
>
> I had no idea that guy was an actual comedian, but I _hate_ that commercial: I don’t think that morbidly obese people are ever funny. Bruce Bruce, Chris Farley, big fat comediennes (I know there are some, I just can’t think of any names), etc. – I have never found them or their acts funny, especially the ones who use their weight in the humour. Sorry, I just don’t think that being that fat is inherently funny. And Fatty McHeartattack hawking fried chicken? Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn’t even stand to watch Rueben Studdard on the _American Idol_ clips I saw: anyone who looks that unhealthy shouldn’t have made it through the damn audition, I don’t care _what_ his voice sounds like.

Oh dear. Hope you’re wearing you’re absetos underoos.

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**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/26 "2005-08-16T02:58:13Z")

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> [@Wolfian](#):
>
> Oh dear. Hope you’re wearing **you’re** absetos underoos.

:smack:

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeyes-chicken-commercials-with-bruce-bruce/317055/27 "2005-08-16T03:10:01Z")

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Bruce Bruce is pretty freaking hilarious. He had some bit about how people recognizing him on a plane and people coming up to him and someone asked him if he was famous because of the attention and he told the guy he was a famous male stripper. In shock the man asked him what his stripper name was. His response…streatch marks.

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