Page 3 | To think M&S use of Enola Gay in their current advertisement is just crass in the current climate?

EmmaGrundyForPM · 07/04/2023 02:44

I don't think it's the best choice for an advert, but I couldn't get worked up about it. I haven't seen the advert, - does it use thd words or just the music?

OP, you are coming across as over invested in this. And also quite nasty by having a go at people who don't know what the Enols Gay was, yet you don't know that the photo of the little girl running down the road was taken during the Vietnam War and was the result of napalm, not an atomic bomb.

Maybe get some sleep?

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:45

SunUp · 07/04/2023 01:53

Nothing offends you....yet here you are, all offended about an old song 😂

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TBF I’m offended by the Scooter version of Enola Gay. We all should be.

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:46

ArmitageShanked · 07/04/2023 02:07

Have a dance.

What’s your point with this?

You’ve given us a poem about war and told us to dance because there’s an entirely separate song also about war

Trez1510 · 07/04/2023 02:47

Willyoujustbequiet · 07/04/2023 02:37

I agree OP.

Have to admit I raised an eyebrow when I saw the advert. It made feel uncomfortable. Not offended but its poor taste.

I also agree. I feel uncomfortable when the advert comes on due to the incongruity of the 'shiny happy people' prancing around to a song about the horrors of nuclear war.

I think this may be generational though i.e. those of us who were adults during the Cold War are very atuned to what's going on at the moment vis-a-vis Russia. Others, perhaps not so much.

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:53

It’s a very old song I can’t imagine many young people recognise the tune when the lyrics aren’t in the song.

Let’s hope no companies ever use 99 red balloons for a song, it will finish off the Professionally Offended

MissFancyDay · 07/04/2023 02:57

Of course it's an unsuitable song for a light-hearted advert. I wouldn't get worked up about it but the choices people make these days baffle me.

LunaNorth · 07/04/2023 03:00

I thought it was in poor taste, too. Not because of the current climate, it just seemed an odd choice.

SunUp · 07/04/2023 03:08

Trez1510 · 07/04/2023 02:47

I also agree. I feel uncomfortable when the advert comes on due to the incongruity of the 'shiny happy people' prancing around to a song about the horrors of nuclear war.

I think this may be generational though i.e. those of us who were adults during the Cold War are very atuned to what's going on at the moment vis-a-vis Russia. Others, perhaps not so much.

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I'm almost sixty and I still can't get offended or uncomfortable about it.
The cold war, along with the Cuban missile crisis had ended when the op was still a twinkle in her father's eye as far as I can see.

SunUp · 07/04/2023 03:09

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:53

It’s a very old song I can’t imagine many young people recognise the tune when the lyrics aren’t in the song.

Let’s hope no companies ever use 99 red balloons for a song, it will finish off the Professionally Offended

Heads would melt faster than the polar ice caps.

TheMarzipanDildo · 07/04/2023 03:09

It is a bit weird, in the sense that the song will have had to have gone through committees to be on the ad.

MarieKlepto · 07/04/2023 03:12

It's a catchy "retro" tune that the young ad execs thought would bridge the divide between the trad older M&S shopper and a new younger audience. Thing is, the older M&S shopper knows exactly what it means and winces, same as they would if they'd used 99 Luftballons, Two Tribes, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Breathing, etc. There are dozens of equally catchy with fluffy meaning songs that they could have chosen.

SunUp · 07/04/2023 03:18

TheMarzipanDildo · 07/04/2023 03:09

It is a bit weird, in the sense that the song will have had to have gone through committees to be on the ad.

Imagine the committee meeting?

' I know, Enola Gay will be a great song to use in this ad ' 😁
' But won't it offend someone? ' 😕
' Like who? '🤔
' Well, those posters on MN for example '🧐
' They don't even shop here, they shop at Boden and Seasalt!' 😁

Thump....rubber stamped. 👍

Trez1510 · 07/04/2023 03:18

SunUp · 07/04/2023 03:08

I'm almost sixty and I still can't get offended or uncomfortable about it.
The cold war, along with the Cuban missile crisis had ended when the op was still a twinkle in her father's eye as far as I can see.

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Perhaps you're the exception that proves the rule.

I'm confident there are issues that rattle your cage/twist your melons about which I remain comletely unruffled.

Trez1510 · 07/04/2023 03:18

** completely

SunUp · 07/04/2023 03:21

Trez1510 · 07/04/2023 03:18

Perhaps you're the exception that proves the rule.

I'm confident there are issues that rattle your cage/twist your melons about which I remain comletely unruffled.

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Absolutely, but that's the beauty of being human.
We can have our own opinions, agree, disagree and at the end of it all we still think the only correct opinion is our own. 🙂

AppallinglyReheated · 07/04/2023 03:28

Just seen the Gousto ad... where clearly its being used as a retro device, the Mum in the ad is cooking and lost in a daydream about her past youth.

Its a catchy instrumental and vocal sound, it immediately shouts EIGHTIES! I can see why it's being used - with the knowledge of what it is about, I probably wouldn't, but there again, the average age of someone working in that area of media/advertising, almost certainly arrived on the planet a decade or two after it was relevant.

SlipSlidinAway · 07/04/2023 03:42

Well I never. For decades I've thought OMD were singing, 'Alone again' rather than 'Enola Gay'..

Mumdiva99 · 07/04/2023 03:56

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:53

It’s a very old song I can’t imagine many young people recognise the tune when the lyrics aren’t in the song.

Let’s hope no companies ever use 99 red balloons for a song, it will finish off the Professionally Offended

What's that about? (I remember her singing on Totp. No idea of the meaning.....the video just had red balloons as far as my childish poor memory goes.....

Mumdiva99 · 07/04/2023 04:01

SlipSlidinAway · 07/04/2023 03:42

Well I never. For decades I've thought OMD were singing, 'Alone again' rather than 'Enola Gay'..

🤣😂 (me too!!)

magicthree · 07/04/2023 04:10

For crying out loud....... Seriously, is that all you have to worry about?? It's a song, get over it.

magicthree · 07/04/2023 04:12

MissFancyDay · 07/04/2023 02:57

Of course it's an unsuitable song for a light-hearted advert. I wouldn't get worked up about it but the choices people make these days baffle me.

The things which offend people baffle me far more.

LittleDitto · 07/04/2023 04:26

I mean, it’s quite an upbeat tune for such a sombre subject, but what a fucking tune it is! That synth riff has got to be one of the most iconic sounds of the 80s!

TheLadyofShalott1 · 07/04/2023 04:27

SunUp · 07/04/2023 01:31

I know what the fucking enola gay is.
I don't see the issue, apart from you making it one in your head.
You asked for opinions, your getting mine.

The thing is @ArmitageShanked I don't think that Sunup had the slightest idea what the song was referring to until someone else explained it! If I am correct, then s/he was probably embarrassed at not knowing, so went on the defensive, which made her annoyed.

I haven't seen you say anywhere that you were actually offended by the advert. I thought you meant that you thought it was in poor taste to have used that whole episode in time as a frivolous advertisement, and I agree with you.

I was also surprised at MrsTerryPratchett's first reply to you, it didn't sound (read) to me like her usual commonsense self either. So I think that maybe she had had a bad day - we all get those!

Lastly, to everyone who seems to think that to be "offended" by something or someone, is a weak or "snowflake" type of reaction to things, I couldn't disagree with you more. Without him even speaking, Putin offends me, and to a slightly lesser extent, so does Trump. The "parties" that Boris and his cronies held during Lockdown also offend me greatly. But I don't expect everyone to be offended by the same things, and for someone else to tell anyone else what they must be, or not be, offended by, is in my mind, just ignorant.

The OP did not come on here and tell everyone that they must be offended* *by that advert, she was just asking - as people on Mumsnet are want to do - whether other people agreed with her thoughts that M&S have made an error in showing that particular advert. I agree with her that it is a very inappropriate song, and whether they realise it or not (and they really should do their homework on these things) it refers to such an awful occassion, that they should have just not used it to encourage people to buy their merchandise.
Obviously, no-one has to agree with me, but I think that a persons method, and/or reasons for disagreeing, say much more about them than they might wish.

Gingerkittykat · 07/04/2023 04:27

TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl · 07/04/2023 02:45

TBF I’m offended by the Scooter version of Enola Gay. We all should be.

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YABU I just went and listened to the Scooter version and it is a work of art!

Mummyoflittledragon · 07/04/2023 04:27

Mumdiva99 · 07/04/2023 03:56

What's that about? (I remember her singing on Totp. No idea of the meaning.....the video just had red balloons as far as my childish poor memory goes.....

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The most memorable line in the song for me ‘this is it boys, this is war’. It’s also an anti war song, where devastation is the end result of a pointless war. Personally, I don’t have an issue with such songs being used. I think it’s important to remember our past as if we forget it, the same mistakes will be repeated… unfortunately and inevitably they are, I believe.