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"KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' here?

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bucketfoot-al
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"KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' here?

#1 Post by bucketfoot-al »

OK. So I would LOVE to post this on Facebook or Twitter (but I am not on Twitter), and watch the meltdown - but I don't go to the Internet to troll folks.

Luckily for y'all, I consider you to be my pals, so I'll share this one funny with you.

So ... last year I saw a very funny energy drink, manufactured somewhere in Western Europe, on the shelves over here in Croatia, where we are now on our annual vacation. Its the blue can below, I combined two views of the same can, to give you the idea.

Funny as heck, right?

Well. THIS year there is a second, orange colored flavor on the shelves. With a different 'subtitle'. Read it carefully on the photo below. But - PUT DOWN THE SODA FIRST. :wink:

Question: What do you think would happen if they marketed the orange cans in the USA with THAT 'subtitle'? (Hint: "Twitter meltdown".) I looked at it, turned it and saw the 'subtitle' - processed for a moment, then burst out laughing as I showed it to our son. You can't make this stuff up!!!




Image




Image
Last edited by bucketfoot-al on June 14th, 2019, 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#2 Post by bucketfoot-al »

OK, so I have already had to explain this via PM to one member who shall remain nameless :lol: ... help me out here people, please don't make me have to spell it out ... it loses its humor that way :wink: ... if all else fails, use a search engine or go to http://www.urbandictionary.com ... HINT: Its the use of the word 'Urban' in the context of the graphics on the can that would probably rub a lot of people the wrong way - if the manufacturer was boneheaded enough to try to sell this product in the USA ...
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#3 Post by Buc Wheat »

<over my head>

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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#4 Post by LOBOREX »

bucketfoot-al wrote:OK, so I have already had to explain this via PM to one member who shall remain nameless :lol: ... help me out here people, please don't make me have to spell it out ... it loses its humor that way :wink: ... if all else fails, use a search engine or go to http://www.urbandictionary.com ... HINT: Its the use of the word 'Urban' in the context of the graphics on the can that would probably rub a lot of people the wrong way - if the manufacturer was boneheaded enough to try to sell this product in the USA ...
Please explain how this is so hysterical. Go on cant wait.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#5 Post by bucketfoot-al »

Loborex: The hysterical part is the cluelessness of the manufacturer in creating something that they thought innocuous but which, depending on the country, could be read in a completely different, and completely un-funny way.

Anyhow. I know after nearly 6 decades on this earth that a sense of humor means different things to different people. On top of that its very hard to 'read' humor off a screen.

But I tried.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#6 Post by LOBOREX »

bucketfoot-al wrote:Loborex: The hysterical part is the cluelessness of the manufacturer in creating something that they thought innocuous but which, depending on the country, could be read in a completely different, and completely un-funny way.

Anyhow. I know after nearly 6 decades on this earth that a sense of humor means different things to different people. On top of that its very hard to 'read' humor off a screen.

But I tried.
Okay, in this case I was the clueless one. And thinking poorly of what you were finding humor in but in my defense context is important and it was misleading what you meant from your first post. The new situation we find our selves in people are saying and doing things they wouldn't have dreamt of just a few years ago. We are going backwards as a nation and as a world but in this instance I was wrong, my knee jerk is kind of on automatic with all the nastiness I have had to deal with lately. I appolgize that I misconstrued your humor and hope you understand why.
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Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#7 Post by bucketfoot-al »

Loborex: I understand perfectly what you mean. As I said, humor is very difficult to communicate via keyboard. And sometimes we can try to be too cute. A shorter 'setup' would have worked better. :lol:

This was one of those things that makes you burst out laughing (from shock) because on its face it seems SO wrong - and it would be if it was intentional. Of course, it wasn't intentional, but the result of shall we say "cultural cluelessness."

This sort of thing happens quite frequently in Asia - you may recall that a few years ago billboards of Adolf Hitler appeared in Seoul, South Korea, in an advertisement for a local BMW dealership. The Korean BMW dealer was embarrassed and puzzled at the tidal wave of outrage this brought on - but only AFTER it was reported on in the West and in Israel. They merely wanted to have something that was universally identified as German in the ad. So - Hitler seemed like an easy choice. Turned out not to be such a great idea. To put it mildly. :wink: OTOH had someone put up billboards of Gen. Tojo in Seoul, I imagine the local reaction would have been quite a bit more vocal, given the Korean experience under 40 years of Japanese rule...
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#8 Post by belrog999 »

Not to mention the "Kong" they are using is from Disney's "Tarzan"
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#9 Post by brucebishoputah »

I wish I understood why the word urban would be a topic of conversation on the can. What's bad about that word? Please just spell it out. Funny or not, it's a brain-puzzler for me.

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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#10 Post by bucketfoot-al »

brucebishoputah wrote:I wish I understood why the word urban would be a topic of conversation on the can. What's bad about that word? Please just spell it out. Funny or not, it's a brain-puzzler for me.
Its a word that, in the USA at least, is often used as a slang euphemism for American inner cities and their inhabitants. That is why no one in their right mind (in the US at least) would use them in the context of this can.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#11 Post by Todd P. »

"Urban" + ape = major insult in United States.

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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#12 Post by LOBOREX »

brucebishoputah wrote:I wish I understood why the word urban would be a topic of conversation on the can. What's bad about that word? Please just spell it out. Funny or not, it's a brain-puzzler for me.
Going back several decades certain people politicians especially started using code instead of using race they started using terms like urban. The urban hoards are coming to your neighborhood, gonna date your daughter, going be in your schools etc. :alcoholic: :alcoholic: :alcoholic: :evil:
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be! -Puck

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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#13 Post by bucketfoot-al »

The slang use of the term "urban" is not necessarily used as a disparaging euphemism (see for example "Real Urban Radio Network - Today's R&B and Old School" - https://web.facebook.com/The-Real-Urban ... rdc=1&_rdr)

So its an accepted usage, within the appropriate context, based on my experience ("American Urban Radio Networks" for example was around in the 1980s). But, as someone pointed out above, using the word "Urban" in the context of the "Kong Strong" can with the gorilla face could obviously be seen as a racist slur.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#14 Post by scuzzfink85 »

I dare somebody to drink it.
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#15 Post by bucketfoot-al »

scuzzfink85 wrote:I dare somebody to drink it.
:lol: No thanks. At my age I don't need no stinkin' uber-caffeinated energy drinks to give me heart palpitations - or to effect a hairy transformation with latent urges to climb up the Empire State Building!!!

:rolf: :rolf: :rolf:
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#16 Post by scuzzfink85 »

Lots of luck :rolf:
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Re: "KONG STRONG - Wild Power" - Anyone see any 'problem' he

#17 Post by bucketfoot-al »

Update: After a couple of years missing from Euro store (Lidl) shelves, "Kong Strong" energy drink was back this year ... but the "Urban Classic" moniker had disappeared .... I guess someone explained it to them ... :rolf:
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