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by KineticLensman 1924 days ago
People who like these could do worse than take a look at Ubik by Philip K Dick [0]. Each chapter starts with an advert expounding the virtues of the wonder substance Ubik, which can be used as beer, shaving foam, kitchen cleaner, coffee, hairspray, antiperspirant and others. Each ad has a great little caveat: "Safe when taken as directed", "Avoid prolonged use", "Entirely safe when used as directed", "Safe when used in a conscientious programme of bodily hygiene", "Do not exceed recommended dosage", "Do not exceed recommended portion at any one meal" etc etc

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik
1 comments
bitwize 1924 days ago
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
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craftinator 1924 days ago
It made my heart happy that this comment was so quickly made.
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derekp7 1924 days ago
At the time I watched SNL whenever I remembered, but not regularly enough. However this one commercial spoof has stuck out with me, and I see it referenced all the time. Almost as if it was constantly reused. So how did this one-time event (well, plus reruns and now internet memes) stick in our collective conscience?

Same with Douglass Adams -- I ran across it due to "Adams" being at the beginning of the alphabet, but it also seems that most geeks have consumed it also.

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bitwize 1923 days ago
HFB had meme-like qualities even back then, to the point where it was referenced in a completely different skit (Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer).

I think it has to do with the increasingly dire warnings for what is marketed as a children's toy, culminating in the one about not taunting it with deliberately unstated, therefore presumably very grave, consequences for taunting it. The humor is in what is left unsaid, where your imagination takes over.

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