18 November, 2007

Beyond the power of even a donut

Here's another picture from our summer trip to the States. (Yes, these will run out pretty soon, and we'll be limited to local humor, but I'm not too worried about a shortage.) Somehow, when I saw this one, I felt that it summed up a lot of the reasons that I'm so happy to live outside America, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. And of course, when I asked others if they found it at all disturbing, no one had a clue as to what I was talking about, so I suppose it's just another example of me living in a parallel universe.

Does it bother me because they're trying to sell anti-healthy junk food under the guise of popularity? Does it bother me because popularity is the convincing commodity? Do I feel betrayed, because I really enjoyed Dunkin' Donuts as a kid, and somehow didn't benefit from the popularity clause?

I obviously am taking this box of donuts a bit too seriously, but I think that maybe it was the nonchalance of the thing that hit me the hardest. Those poor Americans, always obviously striving for the outer appearances, always looking to be the cool ones. And here I sit on my hilltop, probably uncool, and yet happy with my lot, living the real life.

Now all I need is something to dunk in my coffee.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toby, seems to be you're not giving your American brethren enough credit. There's no social magnet as powerful as a box of sugar-laden dough rings and I would venture to guess that the marketers behind DD are somehow clued into this well-known fact. I have a hard time thinking that the marketers thought they could seriously appeal to consumers' need for social acceptance with a $3.99 purchase.

toby said...

First off, I've confessed completely to taking the box too seriously. Second, I agree with both you and the box: if you were walking down the street with a box of those sweet things, you'd be quite popular with me. It was just the brazenness with which they wrote the facts, the open way they seemed to be calling to the unpopular that got to me.
Like I said, no one else in the room understood my meaning, so it doesn't surprise me that online readers might not as well. I'll try to make my next post more universal :)

hubscubs said...

check out http://hubscubs.blogspot.com/2007/04/gators-win-and-so-do-i-pondering-light.html

i was really popular after that.

toby said...

And you didn't save me one? Well, if we're ever in Chicago at the same time, the next box is on me.