Sesame Street Old Spice ad parody

Like the Old Spice man, Grover wants to change the way you smell -- so that you can understand "ON."

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster (Thanks, Dave!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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knoxblox

Ha ha ha! I’m a 43-year-old man, and Grover still makes me giggle as much as when I was a kid!
thunderhammer

The educational value of shows like Sesame Street has always been pretty marginal. What they do that’s good is get kids *interested* in learning. But mostly they’re entertainment, like a sugary breakfast cereal that is *part of a complete breakfast*

I agree about not being as annoying as most kid shows. Sesame Street and Veggie Tales are the only ones I can take. And I don’t even have kids, just nieces and nephews.
- petsounds
  
  I think Sesame Street’s focus has always been more about nurturing and validating a child’s sense of wonder and imagination. And I suppose the Muppet Show was trying to rekindle that sense of wonder in adults. I think that’s what Jim Henson was all about.
matisse

I agree with thunderhammer.
In fact, my understanding is that shows like “Blues Clues” whilst boring to adults actually do a better job of educating kids (I think the book “Tipping Point” makes this assertion) still, I liked Sesame Street when I was a kid and i like it now :-)
gorilla

bibulb: Money, and Richard Nixon.

Nixon wasn’t a fan of public television, and wanted to reduce the funding as much as possible. Throughout the 70′s there was only barely enough funding to continue what they were doing, and never enough to expand it.
The Chemist

Actually, I do think Sesame Street primes children for advertising, intentionally or not.

“Today’s show was brought to you by the letters, M… etc.”
- bibulb
  
  You’ve got the backwards of it – it used the visual language of advertising (which society was priming kids for) to teach letters and numbers and other basic concepts, and did it pretty effectively.
  
  (The Spouse and I were discussing this earlier this week – I was wondering why we didn’t ever get a full grade-school curriculum from CTW, covering the basic content areas across K-5. We got chunks of it, but not everything and not all at once. It took about fifteen years or so before CTW got a math-based series on, and they let it die a few years later.)
Anonymous

the cow slayed me. I also liked how the cow’s face looks just a little bit like Miss Piggy’s.
Lis Riba

Isaiah Mustafa has tweeted his response
Anonymous

Well, he’s no Kilted Killer: http://view.break.com/1932758 But he’s got a thing.
Zadaz

Part of Sesame Street’s philosophy has always been to play to the adults because that’s who’s in charge of the remote control. (Or at least they should be.)

If I had kids I would absolutely watch Sesame Street with them. However I’d leave them to it by themselves with Blue’s Clues or Dora, which would be a shame.
VICTOR JIMENEZ

“IÂ´m on a horse.”
“Moo!”
“Cow.”

That made my day.
tuckels

Bawwwww
PaulR

“What is in your hand?”

Um, I’m not telling…
bat21

Does Grover smell like smelly garbage, old dumpster, low tide or wet dog?
- gwailo_joe
  
  No no no OSCAR smells like those unpleasant things. . .Grover smells like the Snuggle-Soft bear with a tinge of Rasta.
  
  (he is rather nappy. . .)
Antinous / Moderator

The top-voted comment for the video, from one waffles2213:

Look at yourï»¿ comment, now back to mine. Nowï»¿ back at your comment now back to mine.ï»¿ï»¿ Sadly it isn’t mine, but if you stopped trolling and started postingï»¿ legitimate comments it could look like mine.ï»¿ Look down, back up, where are you? You’re scrolling through comments, writing theï»¿ comment your comment could look like. What did you post? Back at mine, itsï»¿ a reply saying something you want to hear.ï»¿ Look again theï»¿ replyï»¿ is now diamonds. Anything is possible withï»¿ legit comments Im in a chair
Anonymous

love it!!!!!!!!!!! grover is awesome…
midknyte

Full of win!
cameronh1403

That was awesome…Grover has always been my fave monster on Sesame Street

FTW!
sapere_aude

I seem to recall that during the recent brouhaha over Katy Perry’s censored appearance on Sesame Street a spokesperson for the CTW said that the reason they have celebrities on the show is because they want to encourage parents to watch the show with their kids. The kids may have no clue who any of these celebrities are; but their parents may be fans, and may be more likely to sit down and watch Sesame Street with their kids if celebrities make special appearances on the show.

I have a feeling that they do parodies like this for the same reason. Kids may not recognize this as a parody of the Old Spice commercials; but their parents might, and will find it funny. The kids don’t have to recognize it as a parody in order to find it funny because preschoolers will laugh at just about anything that Grover does. (Actually, come to think of it, I’ll laugh at just about anything that Grover does; and I’m in my mid-40s. I especially like it when he’s a waiter, and Michael Steele comes into his diner.)
jennybean42

This is now officially the best.meme.eva
penguinchris

I like it but I wonder about the educational value. Entertaining sure, even for kids who may not have seen the ads (I’m not sure I’ve seen the ads either – I only know the one with the guy with the mustache on the boat – same thing?).

It’s like the Mad Men parody they did – funny, but the point was obviously to parody Mad Men, not to teach kids about the word “mad”.

In this one Grover talks so fast I, a full-grown adult, couldn’t follow him! I have to say though, slipping in “I’m on a boat” was really great ;)
Anonymous

Sesame Street may be a children’s educational show, but one of its strengths has always been that it can appeal to adults as well. A lot of kids shows are downright annoying to adults, but Sesame Street is something that parents can enjoy watching with their kids, or that single adults can enjoy watching on YouTube. Part of the reason for this is the inclusion of at least some segments in the same style as the Muppet Show: with puppets and antics that will entertain small children, but with humour that is targeted at adults. Not everything has to be about counting to 12. (And even then, the acid trip pinball machine is far more entertaining now than it was as a five year old.)
- gwailo_joe
  
  Yup. . .I’m 35 and this totally made me smile. ‘Moo!’ indeed. . .
  
  And yes, acid trip pinball machine (I liked the Zeppelins): among a few old friends, singing the number song and shouting out any random number: “3″! Can often end in ROTFLOL-type hilarity. Not very mature hardly. . .but I take my laughs where I can.
ackpht

GROVER!
- knoxblox
  
  SUPER GROVER!