Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/13/folgers-and-arnauds-apparent.html
…
2 Likes
I said the same thing years ago when this ad ran. Like, you spend a lot of money on a fancy restaurant – and they serve this shit as coffee? I’d like to speak to the maître d’!
10 Likes
It’s clearly laced with PCP to elicit those reactions. Sadly they left out the part where people were ripping phone books in half with their bare hands.
17 Likes
Amazing what people will say if you give them enough money.
5 Likes
It’s like this: before Starbucks, there was a lot more crappy coffee than there is today.
18 Likes
Many years ago on a trip to New Orleans, I had the best breakfast of my life at Brennan’s. One of the most famous restaurants in the French Quarter. Great coffee. I asked the waiter where can one find this coffee, he said “at the A&P a few blocks away”.
On the upside it may have been cheap coffee, but it was the local version with a chicory blend that you can’t find elsewhere. Plus I was able to bring back a few pounds of the stuff.
11 Likes
Is the poster asking a serious question? 
I’m sure its one of the following: they’re actually actors, survivor bias (they don’t show the people who said “WTF GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK”), or people who are happy to say anything to get on TV (see those annoying Chevy “real people not actor” ads).
7 Likes
When you ask someone “how is your coffee?” most people will say “great, thanks!” even if it’s mediocre. Doubly so if you stick a camera in their face while asking. No normal person is going to try to trash one of their favorite restaurants on TV even if the beverage service was off that day.
8 Likes
Obligatory:
When I went to Arnaud’s a couple of years ago (the jazz bistro, a really great experience) I was tempted to bring along a bottle of Folgers to present when we’d be asked if we wanted coffee with dessert. I doubt I’m the only one who wanted to do this.
15 Likes
cafe du monde? Yellow label? The Asian grocery (Lotte) near me carries it. I tried it as drip coffee, and didn’t like it, but it was really good cold brewed.
3 Likes
Another theory: The people eating in this restaurant were proto-yuppies that were unable to discern good coffee from bad?
3 Likes
Apparently step one is to wear a giant fake mustache when you’re making the switch.
2 Likes
This is extremely true. When this commercial was filmed, crappy percolated coffee wasn’t too far off from the taste of Folger’s Crystals. People forget how lousy we just expected coffee to be.
10 Likes
Cafe du Monde is the more expensive (and widely found) version of it. I picked up the cheap local Louisiana supermarket version.
It is also a major staple of Vietnamese restaurants with condensed milk.
6 Likes
Yeah, could be, but I think I would be more like, “Well it was good, I guess, what’s with all these cameras?” I picture something like them coming up and saying, “Hi there, we are trying to make a commercial about a product used in your meal. If you can provide a positive enthusiastic reaction, you might be on TV and we will pay for this expensive meal. Would you like to participate?”
2 Likes
“This coffee tastes like a fine Columbian blend that was consumed and then pissed out by a llama with kidney problems.”
7 Likes
Most Americans and perhaps other English speakers. Germans perhaps when they are non-paying guests in a private setting.
I never mention the quality of the coffee if I’m at a dinner or something because well… Dinners are known but having crappy watered down coffee so what’s the point in complaining? As long as the food is good I’ll be happy.
I never get coffee at restaurants because I don’t see the point in it. I don’t go to a restaurant to get coffee unless it’s something that I’ve gotta have.
4 Likes
Coffee are restaurants are, to me, a normal feature when you had some kind of course and spend three or four hours, spending some time after desert talking and then having a coffee or espresso.
At a diner, sure. And if it’s crap I’ll mention it, especially when asked.
Even if the people in the clip weren’t actors, they probably didn’t include the reactions where someone does a spittake and goes “The hell is this freeze dried swill? I ordered fresh coffee!”
4 Likes
