Grim Reaper Sings About Kids Dying in Unicef's Insane Sound of Music Parody
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The hills are alive with the sound of Unicef Sweden singing about cholera.
A jolly grim reaper does a Broadway number on waterborne diseases in Forsman & Bodenfors’ insane new ad from the children’s charity. Titled “The sound of Death,” it parodies The Sound of Music—namely the song “My Favorite Things,” performed by children in the musical. But instead of whiskers on kittens and brown paper packages tied up with string, it turns out that Death loves dysentery and leptospirosis.
The clip is firmly in the Mel Brooks tradition of dark comedy (Think “The Spanish Inquisition” from History of the World, Part I, or maybe more appropriate, the Nazi-themed “Springtime for Hitler” from The Producers). And any macabre, musical PSA these days is likely to evoke, however slightly, “Dumb Ways to Die.”
Frankly, the lyrics could be better. And the extra wry approach makes the concept tough to swallow, but that’s kind of its point. It doesn’t quite trivialize the horrors it’s trying to address, it just pretends to do so, as a way to guilt viewers—essentially saying, “Enjoy this silly song … about the thousands of kids dying every day.” Whether that’s an effective call to action, who knows? It’s certainly memorable.
And at least it keeps up musical theater’s raison d’etre of having people burst into song about everything, all the time, even when it’s totally inappropriate.
This post covers two of my favorite topics: Breasts and advertising. When they’re grouped together, it usually means a 30-minute Girls Gone Wild infomercial. However, this post actually covers a couple advertising efforts behind breast cancer awareness, which is nothing to joke about. While humor is used in writing, and can be seen in the TV spots, no disrespect, implied or otherwise, is intended. My prayers go out to all those who have been affected by breast cancer.
Coca Cola, invented in the late 19th century and marketed as a “cure-all” for diseases like morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence has come a long way in a century. A friend once told me that Coke’s special formula used cocaine. Which is true, although at the time I called him a “lying pooh-pooh head.” In fact, a single glass of Coke contained nine milligrams of blow. The nice thing? No crusty white boogers or mirror checks before going outside. ‘Cola’ was spawned from the Kola nut, which added caffeine to the mix. It’s a wonder Ritalin wasn’t invented sooner.
