Culture – the way of life of a group of people passed down from one generation to the next through learning
Enculturation – learning our native culture(s) in childhood
Acculturation – adapting to another culture
Culture shock – the stress associated with acculturation

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Pulpeuse - or, the most disturbing commercial ever



How disturbing is that commercial? Jessica over at Jezebel counts the ways, including the raunchy inter-species sex, the oddly anthropomorphized animals (a doe with breasts? a panda sans bikini?), and all the bodily fluids apparently replaced by Orangina.

According to the British newspaper The Telegraph,
The advert was based around the idea of "pulpeuse", which in French means both "containing pulp" and also "voluptuous" or "sexy".

And Orangina does have pulp, which is a sought-out quality in a fruity beverage (unlike the US, at least in my experience). So yes, I get the pun, and like most French people I appreciate the desire to capitalize that (whereas in the US puns tend to induce eye-rolling, in France jeux de mots are the highest form of humor). I'm also used to sex being used to sell pretty much anything in France - in fact I'm pretty sure you are required to show at least one nude breast if you're selling body wash, and two for yogurt. But I'm still skeeved out. Thoughts?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wow...
and im kinda hard to freak out..
but ..errrr...wow...
xoxo