Is that a Documented Medical Condition?

http://gusherforaneye.com/

This is a real, live add campaign for Gushers. For reals.  

If you need to watch the commercial, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3CcKvU4NXg

I was sitting on the couch last night, quietly watching Home Alone 2 and this commercial came on for a kid with a blue gusher for an eye. I sat there for a second in confused disbelief, “What the fuck am I watching?” was my first thought. I looked around me to see if this was an actual thing. Was I tripping? Is this actually on my television set at this moment? Did someone slip acid into my beer? How drunk was I? I know I only had one beer and Bud Light, (I am broke as hell and it was free, don’t judge, drinkability!) though disgusting, is not strong in any way. Was I tripping balls? Had to be.

If you choose, smartly, to not watch the commerical, let me break it down for you. It’s a kid. With a blue gusher for an eye and he goes around town, I think on a skateboard if I recall correctly, and he squirts liquid blue sugar FROM HIS EYE into children’s mouths. The ingenious adults at Gushers Corporate Headquarters thought taking something that could be considered a severe medical condition, if not a disability, could sell the shit out of fruit snacks. What?

I love Gushers as much as the next 29-year-old who loves fruit snacks filled with sugary liquid, but this is not appealing to me. It actually makes me like them less. But I thought, “Maybe it appeals to the younguns,” so I turned to Garrett and asked “Does this commercial make you want to eat Gushers?”

Garrett: Gushers? Do we have those now? I want some Gushers…

Whitman: *overhearing* Gushers? Gushers are my favorite. I want some Gushers.

Me: No, no, we don’t have any but this commercial is for Gushers and I find it grody, but I am an old lady. Do you want to eat Gushers after seeing this commercial?

Garrett and Whitman: *crying because we don’t have any Gushers*

So I will never know if it appeals to children or not, but it shouldn’t and I find it creepy and off putting.  And do Gushers really have to be advertised this severely? Just show some kids eating Gushers, SOLD! It’s sugar filled with sugar. It shouldn’t take that many advertising dollars to sell these. An ad campaign featuring the most disgusting child alive isn’t necessary to sell sugar to children. It sells itself.

Is gross-out marketing the new thing? Are we selling products now by making them seem abhorrent and hideous? Is this the last advertising frontier?