Beef Jerky that Makes you Stupid

Jack Link's Beef Jerky has this new series of commercial on TV that show guys (and in 1, a guy and a girl) finding Sasquatch in the woods and pranking him. My husband and I both think these ads are pretty funny, and have actually laughed out loud at them on a number of occasions, even for repeat commercials.

There are 4 of these ads; I've only seen 2 of them on television, but all 4 are available on the Jack Link's website. (Click the "See the Commercials" link at the bottom)

Brief description of the ads:

In the first one, 3 guys light a bag on fire and leave it outside of Sasquatch's cave. They yell "ding-dong!" and run away. Sasquatch stomps out the fire, chases after the guys who are trying to row away in a boat, and throws a giant rock into their boat.

In the second one, two guys in a truck see Sasquatch walking along the side of the road. They offer him a ride, then pull away; they apologize, offer him a ride again, and pull away again. Sasquatch gets angry, and pulls one guy out of the truck through the windshield.

In the third ad, two guys are using their watch to shine light in Sasquatch's face while he's trying to catch fish. He gets mad, chases them, and smacks one of the guys in the face with a fish.

And in the last ad, a guy and a girl (presumably his girlfriend) see Sasquatch playing with a bird or butterfly. The guy takes out a joy buzzer, gets Sasquatch to shake his hand, and shocks Sasquatch. Sasquatch gets mad, and rips the guy's arm off while the girl runs away.

Now, these ads can be read as promoting pretty exclusionary attitudes towards those who are different. But the thing that I think is strangest about the ads is the way that the content of the ad doesn't match the slogan. The slogan is "Feed your Wild Side." And it's true, all the guys in the ads are eating Jack Link's Beef Jerky. But Sasquatch is the wild one in the ads, not the guys. And he never gets to eat any of the beef jerky.

Actually, it seems that eating Jack Link's robs the guys in the ads of any sort of common sense that they may have had. Not only do they think that messing with a large, bear-like creature is a good idea, but the consequences of their actions are always bad, and sometimes pretty awful.

Perhaps a more appropriate slogan would be "Feed your Stupid Side." Though that probably wouldn't sell as well.