Don't Want Hobbits Involved With My Pancakes

So there’s a national chain restaurant flogging a new menu “based on The Hobbit.” Yes, I remember fondly in the book when during their quest they stopped at an inn and fortified themselves with those famous Hobbit pancakes, which are nicely skewered by Steven Colbert. All very amusing.

But the commercial I’ve seen seemingly a million times I find particularly idiotic (which I fondly remember as my dad’s favorite phrase when encountering things decidedly beneath his contempt). There’s a kid eating with her grandma, who’s presented in the commercial as being so daft she thinks the movie is based on that delightful menu. And after she says this the other patrons, who turn out to be characters not-quite-from the movie and dressed in very cheesy dime-store-quality costumes, all turn and look at her like she’s truly uncool and out of touch, much to the absolute mortification of her granddaughter.

The problem with this bit of hilarity is that somehow the ad agency nitwits who wrote the commercial seem not to realize this grand new film was once long ago actually a book, one which grandma had probably read several times in college while she and her friends were enjoying large quantities of, well, a common smokable herb shall we say.

So not only is the commercial embarrassingly stupid and not humorous at all, but it’s also offensively stereotypical as concerns “old people,” completely ignorant of the history and cultural influence of the book, and a total turn off when it comes to even considering going to this restaurant.

Just sayin’

Hmmm. Perhaps having second breakfast will improve my outlook.