Post 7: Panda Cheese

Let me start off by saying this is the first Egyptian product I've seen an advertisement for. It is also one of the most bizarre and menacing. Needless to say, I found it on YouTube after looking for foreign commercials; and though it is strange, it still uses the same techniques as commercials in the US.

Watch any one of the Panda cheese commercials, and you'll see a few sad-looking people declining an offer for the cheese. Then enters a sweet-looking panda. He is still and proceeds to stare at the person/people who would not take the cheese. This gets very creepy, very fast. The camera angle switches from the cute panda's face to its whole body, which slouches menacingly over the victim. His short, stout body resembles a hulking, angry human - one who looks like they could really hurt you. After a while, the panda grabs the nearest object and destroys it, either by throwing to the ground or smashing it. In one, he screws up a cook's meal; in another, he rips out a sick man's IV. Clearly, the panda does not mess around. One advertising technique Panda uses is Wit and Humor - some may watch the commercials and laugh at the cruel acts of the Panda. For me, on the other hand, it was completely a frontal Gestalt attack. The slow, romantic music in the background is unusual compared to the disturbing footage of a panda threatening innocent people. The threat itself did not sell the product for me. The commercial made a lasting impression in my mind, and now I am very curious as to what the product is like is it has such a strange campaign. The Gestalt aspect raises many questions for me, most prominently: what did I just watch? It's completely an appeal to the need to satisfy curiosity. It could also appeal to the need for safety, because no one wants to be attacked by a panda. Now I really want to try the cheese; too bad I don't live in Egypt.

As for assumptions, these commercials make a few: men are more likely to buy cheese/use it; people like pandas, therefore a menacing panda will be a contradiction; people who do not enjoy a quality cheese like Panda are boring (lifestyles depicted were drab and depressing). A fallacy in reasoning was Begging the Question - you should buy Panda cheese because nobody says no to Panda cheese. Another could be a minor, comical Slippery Slope fallacy - if you do not buy Panda cheese, you will be hunted down by a Panda (and even killed, as suggested in the hospital scene). 

Overall, the bizarre commercial caught my attention and now is a topic of humor for me. Sometimes I see potential applications of the Panda scene in real life. Most of all, I want to find this Panda cheese and see what it's all about. And I'm not just saying that to appease this Panda staring over my shoulder. Go and buy Panda, cheese guys! Seriously, you need to! Please Help Me, someone get he----