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Since they were first broadcast some four decades ago, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” have become as much a part of the season as tinsel and mistletoe. Reporters Alex Goldmark and Rachel McCarthy explore what makes the classic Christmas specials so ... special.
So Coke underwrote the Charlie Brown special. The horror! Who knew? I missed the product placements and overt commericialism that comes from big corporations playing in media. Isn't that what I'm supposed to fear from big corporate media entities?
You don't see the product placement?
O.K., Frosty isn't a hugely successfully exploited product line, though it didn't hurt Burl Ives career. Still, this was only the beginning of an onslaught of Peanuts products; from a stage musical, book of strips, to dolls, etc., etc. Plus, we have Jim Carrey as a poor replacement for Boris Karlov and Mike Myers as the Cat in the Hat, with the attendant peripheral product lines.
All this is in the service of the big media corporations marketing the poison soaked toys the other big corporations buy as cheaply as they can be bought then sell as dearly as can be sold.
No horror there, right?
Chris, did you listen to the piece? I doubt it. I don't even think you read my first sentence.
Please show specific evidence that Coke's involvement in the original Charlie Brown Christmas special was reflected in the editorial or visual content of the special. If not, then concede that the underwriting of media content by big corporations does not necessarily result in implicit commercialism of such content and perhaps you have less to fear than you think.
And besides, Burl Ives' wasn't Frosty's voice--comedian Jackie Vernon ("Hello, fun-seekers") was Frosty's voice. Ives did Sam the Snowman in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the first Rankin-Bass holiday special.
Chris--did you know that 9 out of 10 ma-and-pa businesses are corporations? Are they automatically part of Evil Capitalist Corporate AmeriKKKa, too?
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