the abbreviated reign of “neon” leon spinks

OOPS 234
ation and a swordfight between actors Christian Slater and Errol Flynn Jr.
Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, and other Hollywood greats wrote an open
letter to show-business trade papers, calling the show “an embarrassment.”
Peck even threatened to give back his two statuettes if subsequent
shows were as bad.
Miller Lite’s “Dick” Campaign
There’s such a thing as being too clever. The beer brand’s trademark
commercials featuring former athletes and bikini-clad models
seemed a bit too tame to lure Generation-X consumers, who favored South
Park–style sarcasm and irony-drenched references to kitschy pop culture.
Miller’s answer in the late 1990s was a series of commercials that it presented
as the work of “Dick,” a fictional slacker who was compensated
with free beer. The spots featured Dadaesque images and situations, such
as an actor in a beaver costume who devoured a log cabin, and another
who inexplicably lost control of his arm every time he picked up a bottle
of Lite. Instead of reinvigorating the brand, sales dropped. Executive
heads rolled, and pretty soon clones of the old commercials were back.
Corporate Theme Songs
For reasons that remain unclear, some technology start-ups in the
1990s Internet boom saw the need to have company anthems, almost as if
they were developing nations dreaming of their first Olympic medal ceremonies.
Many of the companies, alas, have vanished, but their musical
legacies endure, if only as ironic MP3 artifacts traded among Internet
wags. One of their faves is the theme of a now-defunct Silicon Valley business
software outfit, “Asera Everywhere,” which, for want of a better
analogy, sounds a bit like early 1980s old-school hip-hop, as interpreted
by Pat Boone. But evocative lyrics such as “We’re lean and mean, we’re
takin’ control of the e-biz scene” and “you gotta think big, or getcha butt
off the pot” are worth savoring.