TV Guide once listed the ad in which Mean Joe Greene gave his jersey to a kid who gave him a Coke as one of the Top 10 commercials of all time. And now, more than 30 years after it first aired, that iconic commercial has reached a new level of notoriety: it has made Glenn Beck cry.
On Thursday, Beck showed the Mean Joe commercial -- and another 1970s commercial, for Kodak -- and teared up as he recounted how much better America was in those days. I'm not quite sure what Beck's point was -- I think it was something about teenagers staying out past curfew -- but in any event, that Mean Joe commercial sure does have staying power.
Joe Posnanski wrote a great post about the Mean Joe commercial last week, and you should read the whole thing, but I think this is the most important part:
What is it about this commercial that made ME happy the million times I saw it as a child? I don't know for sure ... but it seems to me that it has something to do with pop culture heroes. There's this real hunger for our sports heroes, our literary heroes, our Hollywood heroes to be great people.We do have a real hunger for our sports heroes to be great people, and I think we especially hunger for tough guys like Mean Joe to be gentle giants off the field. The commercial is just a contrivance to get us to buy Coke, and yet it's also kind of sweet and touching. I don't quite grasp why it makes Glenn Beck cry, but I do understand why the Mean Joe commercial has touched so many people for so long.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2009 @ 6:32PM
nikin78 said...
I think Glenn Beck needs therapy. I love this country too and I do think there are things wrong with it. He really needs to get a grip and do something about the country not just sit there and bable on about how things were. I know how things were, but I know if I want to change things I have to make an effort to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. All he does is say this is the way things ought to be (cry cry), remember when (cry cry), and just don't stay out past curfew (cry cry). you see when you read what I am posting all you saw was CRY. When I see him I can't take him seriously as a sane person because he cries about everything.
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10-16-2009 @ 6:49PM
hsiunnu said...
Really? Better in the 70s, Glen? You mean when over a third of the world was communist, and Russian fingers on nuclear triggers made us wonder if all humankind could end tomorrow? Glen Beck is a wussy hypocrite.
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10-16-2009 @ 6:51PM
Geezer said...
He's making the point that *AMERICA* was better in the '70s, NOT necessarily the whole world.
At least back then, our politicians still held some vague respect for our Constitution and our founding values, and didn't abandon them for the sake of impressing other countries that couldn't care less.
10-16-2009 @ 7:45PM
newtongimmick said...
Pretty clear he's drunk. In addition to being crazy.
If he wants a simpler time, stop smearing Presidents? Politicians? Stop thumping right wing propaganda?
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10-16-2009 @ 8:05PM
Emanuel Moon said...
SOME HOW I KNEW THE CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION WOULD GET BLAMED FOR THE "MEAN JOE GREEN'S" COMMERCIAL, FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT SUCCESS. GET IT, THE COMMERCIAL ISN'T ABOUT POLITICS. NOR IS IT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU DISLIKE PRESIDENT OBAMA.......GET OVER IT.
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10-16-2009 @ 10:21PM
eddiehaeffer said...
This guy is one of the biggest idiots on TV... he does not mention that the drug companies and insurance companies make BILLIONS of dollars off of us without any regulation... Remember the financial industry, do you? Well this is part two if we look the other way, nows the time to look right at 'em!
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10-17-2009 @ 2:19PM
David said...
When I think about where this country is heading, it makes me want to weep sometimes too. It's time to take the printing presses away from Congress & Obama. Didn't any of these idiots pass economics 101? It isn't compassionate to make everybody miserable.
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10-18-2009 @ 3:32PM
pooper said...
Again he is trying to play on past generations fears. Who over the age of 35 does not remeber that ad and think foundly of it? And yes David
I want to cry as well. But only when I hear how many brainwashed TV addicts actually fall for FOXs
BS. Keep watchin those commercials so Glenn can afford all the prescriptions he needs to keep him from foaming at the mouth.
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