Via Wonkette via Jim Newell, this Linda McMahon ad is one of the worst I’ve ever seen:
One can only hope that it helps introduce a new generation to this ’80s ad classic:
Speaking of ads, two days til the new season of “Mad Men”.
Reader Interactions
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Elisabeth
30 seconds of my life I’ll lever get back. Ugh!
But at least she’s not running from the wrestling gig. I guess that’s a good thing.
me
I hope that campaign looks something like this.
jwb
But it was mediocre bad rather than ROFL bad. I’m with Elisabeth here: 30 seconds of my life I’ll never get back.
Cat Lady
Don Draper haz a sad.
DougJ
@jwb:
I found it ROFL bad, sorry. It probably helps to have watched the International Foods version 8000 times as a teen-ager.
Elisabeth
@DougJ:
One the other hand, the Wendy’s Soviet-styled fashion show commercial is a true 80s classic in a good way.
Joel
the advertisement is awful, but the freeze-frame is pure comedy gold.
Cat Lady
@DougJ:
I’m REALLY excited about the new season. I think Lane Pryce is an interesting character, with great potential. That last episode with him “firing” them all, was sublime.
DougJ
@Cat Lady:
I’m disappointed that Miss Farrell apparently won’t be back, at least not immediately.
WereBear
@Cat Lady: I once had a boss who fired me; and then, apparently on a roll, fired the rest of the office after I left.
They called me from the bar where they were celebrating, and I was ticked that I was already home… and already drinking, alone.
Greenhouse Guy
People actually like this caca and will vote for her? This is pukable (word or not?)
KG
@Elisabeth: there is a part of me that thinks that the wrestling gig makes her more qualified to be in DC. Think of the egos she’s had to deal with over the years, what she’s going to have to deal with in DC is nothing compared to the likes of Ric Flair, her husband, Hulk Hogan, and the like.
DougJ
@Greenhouse Guy:
No, she will lose badly.
Elisabeth
@KG:
There’s certainly enough fakeness in both arenas to make her comfortable. And that whole guy’s club thingy, too.
Yet I don’t think I want her anywhere near the halls of Congress unless she’s just visiting. :)
Cat Lady
@DougJ:
Miss Farrell? What was she and her loser brother all about? The only thing she was good for was being left in the car. Give me Rachel every day, and twice on Sunday. She was worthy.
DougJ
@Cat Lady:
Rachel was the best. I doubt we’ll see her again, though, or Midge.
General Stuck
If she gets to Washington, I want to see a Half Nelson.
sherifffruitfly
Better than that fucking “this is soooo good! how good? XYZ good! Hugging the curves good! blahblahblah”
omg that commercial made me want to claw my face off.
Steve
DougJ’s powers of free association have outdone themselves with this one.
That ad makes Chris Dodd’s presidential ads (Why not Dodd?!) look like Dutch Masters.
gnomedad
Ohh, not that Jean-Luc.
Mnemosyne
Seeing two women in a car, I was hoping for an ending more like this.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, I loved how they arranged the blonde’s scarf so you could see the brand name. Are there really enough filthy rich voters in CT to put McMahon over the top?
Cat Lady
@Mnemosyne:
No one’s tried to make a sequel of that, have they.
Keith
She didn’t tame the world of wrestling; her husband Vince did. Vince K. is well-known as a control freak and the major, major controlling influence of WWE. It somewhat surprises me that Linda would try to claim credit for WWE becoming a multi-national entertainment brand when the history of the company is so well-known. And when Vince shuffles off the planet, Linda *still* won’t be controlling things; it’ll be his daughter Stephanie and her husband Triple H. Again, all very well-known stuff among those who follow(ed) the brand.
SpotWeld
@Mnemosyne:
Nah, they all see her as “new money”. No respect for her.
Even sillier she has an ad where she’s in front of a whiteboard, disparaging all the projects that congress has been “jumping around on” (instead of fixing the economy). And she strikes out “auto bailout”, and proclaims that *she’d* make sure that they’d focus on jobs.
What was the automotive bailout if not a desperate attempt to prevent 1000s of jobs from being lost!!
Anyone who is half aware of reality thinks she’s a joke.
YellowJournalism
So when do the “do politics leave you feeling not-so-fresh” ads come out?
Adam Collyer
To be fair, this is the woman that thought this was good television…
I mean, come on! That piledriver wasn’t even close to connecting!
I say this as a wrestling fan since my grandmother got me to cheer with her for Hulk Hogan, a Real American hero, when I was 4 years old. Linda McMahon has been at least partially responsible for some brutally awful television over the years. She shouldn’t even run campaign ads. She’s painful in front of a crowd and completely lifeless on camera.
As a Democrat, I think this is very good news.
Adam Collyer
Also, as a side note, I’ll even concede that Linda was a solid CEO for World Wrestling Entertainment. The company is absolutely a global conglomerate that makes money hand over fist.
But anyone who is anyone knows that while it’s nominally a family company (her daughter Stephanie is the head of “creative” and her son Shane was formerly the head of the “new media” division), everyone who knows anything about the business knows that her husband was the brains behind the operation. Vince McMahon has only about a trillion flaws, but he’s entirely responsible for the shift from the WWWF being a New York-based regional company into the WWE being the global leader in “sports entertainment.” Linda played a part, but the ad is completely disingenuous.
Mark S.
WTF?
DFS
@Adam Collyer: “about a trillion flaws” perhaps understates the issue. There is a man who is crying out for an unauthorized biography.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
Mad Men, currently the best thing television.
Dexter, Nurse Jackie, et al, worthy. But Mad Men is the one.
DickSpudCouchPotatoDetective
@SpotWeld:
Exactly. She is talking to morons.
Adam Collyer
@DFS:
To someone who doesn’t follow the industry, Vince looks like a loudmouthed carny who’s far too impressed with himself.
That’s entirely true.
To someone who actually has more than a passing interest in professional wrestling, Vince McMahon is alternately a brilliant promoter, a creative genius, a complete buffoon and a total egomaniac. Honestly, he’s one of the most compelling characters in that last 30 years of American business. A fully documented account of his life and personality would probably be one of the most interesting biographies to come out in years.
asiangrrlMN
What.the.fuck. I want a refund, DougJ. I don’t care that I didn’t pay anything to watch that crap–I still want some compensation for sitting through the whole fucking thing.
AnotherBruce
This ad knees authenticity in the groin.
I hope the actresses were paid a rate that justly rewarded their performance.
gypsy howell
@DougJ:
Now that Don is living in the Village, wouldn’t it be fun for him to start hangin’ with Midge again? Naganahapa, of course.
I loved Midge. I want to be Midge (with Betty’s closet)
vtr
WWE is the Glen Beck of sports. Or theater. It appeals to 10-year-olds or older people with 10-year-old brains. Just as Linda McMahon does.
vtr
Also, former congressman Rob Simmons, a decent man and an experienced politicians with connections, is back in the primary race.
Todd Dugdale
So Linda McMahon has “tamed” the world of professional wrestling? How so? Did she beat all of the professional wrestlers into submission (very doubtful), or is professional wrestling itself somehow “tamer” than it was before (demonstrably false) she took over?
If they mean that she rose to the top of one-of-many niches in the entertainment industry, I would say “So what?”.
karen marie
McMahon is aiming for a pretty narrow demographic — women who drink in the middle of the afternoon and then go for a drive.