Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/03/03/madge-is-a-creepy-soap-pusher.html
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Has the urban definition of “Karen” changed again?
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I always thought that when I was a kid.
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she is up to some serious soap sales.
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Even as a kid, Madge’s smug bait-and-switch rubbed me the wrong way. I know she’s an advertising icon, but I always wondered who thought this would be a good spokesperson for any product.
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Googly eyes improve a lot of things, including Madge.
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She’s more just a smug know-it-all, whereas a Karen tends to be a smug know-nothing.
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She had to compete with another brand that had an ancient Chinese secret.
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*Gasps* Dish-washing liquid???
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The phrase “you’re soaking in it!” did see a certain afterlife in the public consciousness for many years.
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i wouldn’t be talking smack about Madge that way. she’s tough, has a record. she’ll cut you just as sure as she’ll help you soften your poor, chapped hands.
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Full disclosure: I laughed out loud at her joke at the end.
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Jan Miner was awesome in The Swimmer
Another example of cruel public shaming in commercials is all those people who called out complete strangers for “ring around the collar.”
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Bait and switch was a very popular technique to show smug people they were wrong to like what they liked and dislike what they disliked.
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Or this version which would be more realistic today I suspect:
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Most Farley bits seemed to just be a set-up for him to smash. And I’m totally ok with that.
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These are housewives looking for validation, for assurances they are doing their duties correctly. Some go into a manic state when the laundry doesn’t come out as white as it should because they are using an inferior product.
Really, the only solution is for some rando to tell them they’ve let their families down but redemption IS possible by simply switching to detergent X.
The alternative is having to answer to the man of the house when he gets back from work… you don’t want that, do you? He already puts up with enough of your shit, THIS will really push him over the edge. Maybe our doctor needs to up the strength of the pills you take.
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My roommate for my first apartment was a great guy, but a little sheltered in some areas.
A few weeks after we had moved in together he said to me, “Man, we really have to go out and buy some dish soap!”
To which I replied “There’s a half bottle of Palmolive right there on the sink.”
His eyes got really wide and he said “OOOOOOOOhhhh! I thought that was just for soaking your hands in.”
So apparently the messaging in these commercials wasn’t very clear.
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It wasn’t really shaming. If you’ve ever washed dishes every day, or several times a day, dry hands are a major pain. They aren’t an embarrassment, they hurt! My dishwasher conked out recently and I’m doing my own every three days and it’s still a problem for me. So Madge is just offering a practical solution, though in a very 1960s Madison Avenue way.
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