Whoa, TiVo That Shit Back…

Has anyone else seen the new supermarket-themed commercial that shows our protagonist playing songs on a hip Samsung/Cingular Sync cellular telephone as he strolls confidently through the aisles? I’ve only seen it once — it’s the anti-Mellancamp — so I’ll accept a “no” answer here.

If you haven’t seen this mersh, it’s a mindfuckingly quick-paced short that features Ludacris pushing around a shopping cart with a sweet hydraulics system, the Pussycat Dolls whorin’ it up in the produce aisle and aisles full of products named after musicians or bands (e.g. the ice is Vanilla Ice, the canned corn is Korn, the salt and pepper shakers are obviously Kajagoogoo).

But the first thing we see after the phone itself is a hanging aisle sign, the table of contents thing that tells you where to find Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese when you’re lost. And tops on the list of items in this particular aisle? Hippie salad:

I mean, I know the band’s name lends itself to both nostalgic pop culture and food-related allusions, but who the hell at BBDO Worldwide did Mikey Kang have to blow to get String Cheese Incident into that commercial? I know the hula hoop was an old fad that flamed out quickly, but if this Cingular Sync thing catches fire and turns some heads to SCI, certainly the hula hoop can make a serious comeback. Still, I don’t think America’s ready for the bunk molly and malnourished dog fads.