Monday, May 5, 2008

Fictional products from satirical films which become actual consumables in real life

The film Idiocracy takes place in a futuristic world in which the mass consumerization of anything and everything, coupled with government corruption, has led to a world where plants are fed with an energy drink (Brawndo, The Thirst Mutilator) rather than with water. The plants don't grow. Nobody understands why.

The country USA takes place in a real world where films like Idiocracy are made and then some guy licenses the rights to sell the fictional product that is destroying the world in a satire about how dumb we are becoming. This is then covered by the New York Times. It is inconclusive if buying the drink in real life is a sly dig at consumerism or the beginning of the fulfillment of the Idiocracy prophecy.

I am not sure what to make of all this, except I am now going to try to popularize the term "meta-satire" in addition to "fredgy". Can meta-fredgy be far behind?

Below is an advertisement for Brawndo (and yes, it bears a striking resemblance to those old weird powerthirst ads, but that's just because they are made by the same guys)

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