Apparently they are both creeping Americans out on a mass level. They are also both making me pee a little bit in my pants every time I hear or see their completely ridiculous, over-the-top, absurd Italian-themed ads. And this is despite the fact that I have serious problems with both of these companies, and would never purchase either of their products (for different reasons).

That being said, am I the only one that is finding these two marketing campaigns hilarious?

The reason I ask, is that I saw someone post a Facebook message to Häagen-Dazs that was moderately melodramatic… in an awesome way:

Lance’s soul is broken, Häagen-Dazs. His soul.

For those of you expats who do not have a VPN service that affords you the luxury of Hulu and Spotify with American ads, here’s the ad he is referring to:

Lance is not the only one upset, apparently. Candice “wants to die a little inside” each time she sees them:

The negative attention goes on and on. Leslie may never eat again:

Not a one of them has expressed any concern over the fact that a range of Italian gelato is being offered by a company with an umlaut over the ‘a’. But, whatever.

Then there’s Chef Boyardee, which is offensive even in it’s spelling. But, as a marketing agency, when you have a nasty product like ravioli in a can… with a name like ‘Beefaroni’… I mean, what else can you do but make fun of yourself a bit?

I listened to Spotify all day with my QuickTime open so I could get a recording of this ad (which I did), and now I can’t upload it to WordPress because I’m too cheap to buy the space upgrade for one Beefaroni commercial. I can’t find it online anywhere, but if someone has a link, send it to me!

It is is also garnering some attention… I think most people say they are puzzled at first, but then it grows on you. I, on the other hand, died laughing immediately.

…

Is something wrong with me?

 

UPDATE: check out my new post on this same subject – 

A collection of Italian themed marketing campaigns to make you cringe.