A-Ha! I knew it! Ritz Crackers is a terrorist enterprise! Oh, but at least they have slipped up here and tipped their hand as to their upcoming attack strategy! You see, in this commercial for Ritz Crackerfuls, some airplane is delayed from landing, and so a passenger takes out a Ritz Crackerful to help pass the time. Oh, but this causes everyone on the plane to become ravenous with envy! They all stare at the Ritz Crackerful, threatening to attack the guy and fight each other to the last person standing for possession of (and the right to eat) the Ritz Crackerful (!). And then we see that the captain of the airplane has actually left the cockpit (!!) to try to get his hands on the Ritz Crackerful. And that’s when terrorists strike and hijack the airplane (!!!). Which all proves that Ritz Crackerfuls is a terrorist conspiracy to hijack airplanes, and as such must be banned by the airport TSA! If even one person is allowed to slip through security with just one small packet of Ritz Crackerfuls, the whole nation and all of our lives are in jeaopardy! Aaaaaa! (But like I said, at least they made the mistake of showing us their upcoming plans in advance, so we can prepare for them and thwart their dirty plot!)
Now, this is obviously a joke, but this is exactly what this commercial makes me think of (airline-related terrorism), and under the circumstances of real terrorist threats, a horrible tragedy having occurred as a result of airplane hijackings within recent memory, etc., I think making an ad like this is inadvisable. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see something like this, because it immediately makes me think of terrorism. How could it not make everyone think of terrorism these days when we see an ad like this? And that’s really not so appetizing, so maybe they could make a similar ad that doesn’t take place on an airplane?
How about using a classroom where people are taking a test, or a lecture is announced to be longer than expected, or something like that, and so the guy takes out a Ritz Crackerful and everybody stares at him; and then the teacher could confiscate it because it’s causing such a big distraction, and then we see, as the tag, the teacher eating the Crackerful him/herself, and the guy coming to ask for it back after class and catching the teacher eating it. That doesn’t make me think of terrorist attacks and airplane hijackings, so how about that instead? Or how about someone at a local high school football game that’s going longer than expected, and so a spectator guy takes out a Ritz Crackerful, and everybody turns around and stares at him hungrily, and then as the tag we see him running away, and both football teams are chasing him to try to get the Ritz Carckerful? That might work too. And it doesn’t instantly and automatically make me think if terrorism.
Here’s the audacious airline ad (Seriously, watch this ad and tell me it doesn’t make you automatically think of terrorism and airline hijackings):
