March 29, 2008
The Real Sarah Marshalls Speak Out
Photo of sandwish shop, by Tien Mao
Observant New Yorkers may have noticed that someone's got an ax to grind with Sarah Marshall. There are posters all over town telling the woman that she is maternally hated, she sucks, and that yes, she does look fat in those jeans. The posters are part of an ad campaign promoting the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, featuring Kristen Bell as an ex-girlfriend who is difficult to forget. In a city the size of New York, however, there are the inevitable actual Sarah Marshalls, who can't help but notice they're being harangued by name all over town.
The Daily News spoke to a few SMs it could find and their reactions to the campaign varied. One Sarah in her mid-30s told the News, "You see . . . words like 'hate' and 'suck' with your name over and over again. It just doesn't feel pleasant inside." Her mother, who is 71 years old and shares the name, was more put off by the salty language on some of the posters. On the other hand, one 27-year-old Sarah Marshall who teaches 4th graders in Queens, says that the signs have her students asking for autographs.
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sandwish
Not a typo. Look carefully.
:) catering with two Rs as well. that sign's a winner!
"We put the 'err' in 'caterring'"
Misspellings from a family or group which almost definitely does not boast English as a first language, and which almost definitely works twenty or twenty-four hours a day to make their business succeed, I can deal with.
On the other hand, well, we have "you suck" on a big ad out on the street, right next to something about something called "The Tudors" with a dude's hand down the chick's crotch. All this while you're trying to teach your kids the importance of politeness, decorum, and class. Nope, sorry, but Madison Avenue is there to show you, right there on a billboard out in the open, how much tougher your job is nowdays. What the hell is wrong with this picture? Go ahead, tee off, but you'll be aiming it in the wrong place, and at the wrong guy.
I saw a screening of this movie and it was hilarious.
without a comma after the verb, the sentence accuses anyone who looks at it of applying suction to sarah marshall - right? that's a lot of sucking.
i had nothing to do with this article
Altrent (#5):
Thank you!
alltrent: Lighten up, Francis.
Ralph: Love the Stripes reference. :D
Did anyone see the posters at 14th and 2nd & 13th & 3rd ave today? They said "You have a smelly vagina Sarah Marshall" and "You have a dirty whorish mouth Sarah Marshall"
Honestly, I didn't think that "suck" in the sense of "is bad" was really considered vulgar anymore.
My parents might disagree, but they collect social security.
Ralph,
I hear you, but as huge print ads evolve to read "Sarah Marshall Sucks" and display crotch-grabbing moves to entice us to watch two-episode garbage-fests, we move a step closer to where it's deemed "OK" to walk into a place of business and say, "Gimme a fucking coffee."
PoBoy,
You're certainly not wrong -- though that doesn't mean *everyone* thinks it's OK that "sucks" isn't semi-vulgar anymore, regardless of your parents' collection of Social Security (file under "Just Because They're Older Doesn't Mean They're Wrong, Etc."). For instance, I got a kick out of one line of thought regarding Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, whenever the hell it was: "Ooh, as Americans, we are so hung up about sex; time to get over it." OK, how about, "I (and my wife) will be the ones teaching my kids about sex in plenty of time, not two washed-up entertainers who force the issue (?) during halftime of what was supposed to be the All-American sporting event"?
So, yeah, if you're fine saying something "sucks" around your Social Security-collecting parents, by all means go ahead, and I swear I won't squawk. On the other hand, if I happen to be someone who's sort of bothered by the idea of "shit" and "fuck" on (admittedly later night) network TV shows, I hope you similarly wouldn't mind if I were to ax that you respect my wish to not expect that that sort of language should simply be accepted as "de rigeur" because we live in A Big City.
You know what, people? It's OK to, like, say, or at least *think* of saying "please" and "thank you", or holding a door for someone, even if you suspect it won't be reciprocated. Maybe you suspect it wouldn't be reciprocated because you didn't think it was worth doing -- fair enough, because maybe it wouldn't. But I swear I'd bet there are as many people who would return that very same "random", big-city politeness simply for the exact reason that they never expected to hear it. Could you still get mugged, or almost run over by a cab, or something? Sure. But how cool would it be if people didn't think they automatically had to be rude or at least indifferent to others -- even in the biggest and best city of all? So if you have a kid and place value on teaching him or her to try to be the best kind of person they can be -- and to then see "sucks" and crotch-grabbing as a means to gather more eyeballs for whatever stupid ads they're going to run -- you might agree, well, that hinders my effort to have the kids be better people in a better society. $0.02.
Altrent:
Agreed
www.forgotten-ny.com
this thread smells like old people.
I keep forgetting: I should have gone away years ago, after I turned 30.
www.forgotten-ny.com
This all seems oddly familiar.
my concern is for the middle school girls with the same name. 27-fine, but you know there's some awkward 13 year old who doesn't want to go to school anymore.
Of course its a stupid ad. Most ad campaigns are. Kids grow up in this world and they get that. Why is this a trigger for a discussion about propriety and public decorum?
Why would anyone want to see this movie? The ads make it seem like a spoiled, rich New Yorker, who invests way too much in Mommy's approval of his girlfriends, had a tantrum and spent thousands to show how much he's over his ex when he's clearly not.