Do we all need to get prepared for a wave of white Abominable Snowmen coming this way? If some recent appearances in popular culture are any indication, perhaps.
Our culture is rapidly moving towards totally accepting cryptids as a frequent avenue for selling products. We certainly have seen it in car ads, beef jerky, and several other commercial ventures. Needless to say, the #1 marketing opportunity venue annually is the NFL’s Super Bowl celebration of ads and sports.
This year’s event contained a rather popular ad containing a Yeti. Of course, predictably, the commercial reinforced the popular notion that Yetis are white.
Meanwhile, the newest cover of Fortean Times also graphically shows a white (horned) Yeti.
I have mixed feelings about the use of Sasquatch/Yeti in commercials. Part of me is hopeful that this could indicate more public acceptance that these creatures could exist, but I do worry that these funny commercials perpetuate the idea that Sasquatches are a joke and not to be taken seriously. It appears the folks who made the Wheat Thins ad decided to just make their Yeti look like the Bumble because there is no reason to do any research on a creature that, in their opinion, doesn’t exist. I’m sure they are influenced by the information put out by the media, who like to use the word “mythical” to describe Sasquatch and claim there is no real evidence while only reporting on and sensationalizing things that only deserve recognition as a bad example in order to get more viewers or a more hits on their websites. Now, the ForteanTimes cover could be a stab at humor to set the tone for their “Russia’s Yeti” article, but I couldn’t say for sure because, sadly, I do not have a subscription to that magazine (a little too expensive for me here in the States). Thanks for the article, I usually only think about the way news organizations portray Bigfoot, but you’ve got me looking at how entertainment can influence people’s perceptions of Bigfoot as well.
Didn’t a Cyclops in one of those old Sinbad movies look kind of like the horned Yeti? If so, it’s a sort of pop-culture derivative of an earlier pop-culture image, which is what’s been happening with our North American Big Hairy Dude ever since Patty. To me, that’s one of the most interesting aspects of cryptozoology.
I’m actually amazed at how much mileage advertisers have gotten out of Bigfoot. The game cameras made sense that is an obvious tie in. But the “messing with Sasquatch” came out of left field, however their commercials are really well done and have a plausible looking Sasquatch. I will be curious to see how they end up influencing future sightings. I doubt we’ll hear of many albino yeti as the people who would normally see a Yeti are either native to that area or researchers and are very unlikely to be influenced by a commercial. But the jerky commercial THAT one will probably be coloring sightings for many years as youngsters who have seen those commercials now have that image in their minds when anyone says Bigfoot or Sasquatch.
@Poeticsofbigfoot – Yes, I thought the same thing. The shape of it’s head is what caught my attention, I knew I had seen it somewhere before and knew it was stop action animation. I couldn’t place the film but I think you are spot on.
Well, one can play the pop-archetype thing for all it’s worth.
Then one can read lots of sasquatch reports, and see that the animal people are describing looks a lot like Patty.
That those folks are making this up, or being influenced by pop culture, presumes a mental superiority to them that I think unseemly.