I may have been unduly hard on Mickey D’s last week. Yet, I find their ghettolicious commercials so obnoxious.

For an endearing portrayal of Negro niche marketing, watch this precious man from the Flea Market Montgomery:

Local low-budget commercials are the best! Clever, too, as everyone remembers them even as (and because) people mock them. I would definitely make my way to that flea market; such a campy commercial has successfully transformed cheap furniture into ironically cool potential conversation pieces—you know, white people make such peculiar value judgments.

Update: It is sad when parody predicts truth. After posting this site, I looked up Flea Market Montgomery. The man shown is the owner, Sammy Stephens. In the Wikipedia entry, we read:

The spread of the video turned Flea Market Montgomery into a tourist destination, especially among college students. Capitalizing on the popularity of the advertisements, Sammy Stephens subsequently began selling a variety of flea market-related merchandise, ranging from t-shirts to mobile phone ringtones.

We human beings are a predictable lot.

The entry also affirms the American dream:

In A.D. 2000, Stephens began selling at Flea Market Montgomery with toys in three rented booths. Whenever another vendor would leave a booth, Stephens would take it over. Within a few years, Stephens had purchased the entire market. Before buying the market, Stephens had been a local disc jockey as “The Candyman” on WMGY and WXVI and provided songwriting to other local singers and rappers. He graduated from high school in A.D. 1975.

Only in America . . .

Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, October 21, Anno Domini 2008
Fun | Video • Comments