Travis Kelce Two Things At Once COVID Commercial – Worse Than It Could Have Been

Travis Kelce has been in everyone’s newsfeed lately but mostly not for football. Sure the Kansas City Chiefs are doing well this season (in spite of Mahomes, yeah I went there!) but Kelce’s name comes up more for the shot he’s taking and the shot he’s getting. The former, obviously, he may or may not be dating Taylor Swift (who must be out of material). The latter is a commercial where Kelce’s reminded that he can do two things at once. And no, it’s not about playing football and dating Taylor Swift at the same time. And yes, Taylor Swift fatigue is right around the corner. Take a look at the latest Kelce COVID vaccine commercial…

The obvious blunder in the ad: none of the things they show being done at the same time are good ideas! A charcoal grill on a riding lawn mower, bench pressing a member of the press trying to get an interview, throwing a football around a dinner table, recording a podcast alone in a hot air balloon, and a random clip of two Super Bowl rings. So the ad is telling you to do two things at once while showing you how bad of an idea that is. Genius. The only thing this commercial shows us is that Pfizer can’t sell medicine and come up with good commercials at the same time. If they fumble even the simplest ideas, who knows what’s in the vaccine and booster shots!

Kelce is getting some heat for the ad, mostly people poking fun at him for being in the commercial at all, not to mention his alliance with Bud Light in a recent commercial. My stance is that if you want to get the covid vaccine, do it. If you don’t, then don’t. No biggy. Where I draw a line is when this decision is virtually forced upon us whether through government mandates or social pressure. It’s also SOOOOOO surprising how much we’re hearing about the shot now that a certain presidential election is coming up. See, I can write and be sarcastic at the same time. It’s not that hard, Pfizer.

In summary, it’s a dumb commercial. Also, Travis and Taylor go together like pizza and pineapple. Nom nom nom.

-Out of the Wilderness

Running is hard – sprint triathlon just a few weeks away!

My most recent run was more than what the sprint triathlon distance is (3.1 miles). I decided to go 3.5 miles like I had done about a week before. Let me tell ya, runners out there will say 3.5 is kind of a short run but by golly, I was exhausted after! I didn’t quite reach the goal I’d set for myself as far as total time goes, but I *was* faster than the previous week, so that’s good. It’s funny, though, how my body is more tight and tired the morning after. Maybe I overdid it, but I woke up the following day and had to do stretches in bed just to think about getting out of bed!

But deep down, it feels good to push myself like this! I believe, and I hope, it’s going to pay off when I take part in the October sprint triathlon. Of course, swimming is my kryptonite but if I can manage to finish that without much struggle, the bike and the run are going to be great. I can feel it.

-Out of the Wilderness

Kleenex Commercial – Is That A Man Or A Woman?

Kleenex is showing off their inclusivity in a recent commercial featuring an icky situation. The dreaded snot bubble and no tissue close by! The next best thing is the sleeve, right? In the ad called “Save the Sleeve,” I’m not sure viewers will be commenting much about that when the parent’s gender overshadows anything else in the commercial. Take a look…

I first saw this commercial during college football games on Saturday. My guess is that it’s not going to go over very well with the sports crowd, especially if anyone out there had the same question I did after watching it. The question… who or what did I just see? This young child is in for an epic internal battle, and maybe some therapy, when he gets older and tries to figure out what’s going on with their dad… or mom? This pronoun, gender, sexual identity thing has gotten out of hand and unfortunately, Kleenex is another brand that’s fallen prey to it.

Ultimately, it’s sad when a person created for great things is enabled to go down an unscientific path of confusion and lies.

There are a handful of more obvious gender/sexuality commercials, like this one from OREO or this one from Ford. But when when a brand tries to sneak in anything about gender, it just comes across as devious and unpleasant.

-Out of the Wilderness

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Corrina from Boy Meets World

Taylor Swift is in the news for who she *might* currently be dating. Rumors are swirling, but nothing confirmed yet, that she’s linked up with NFL tight end Travis Kelce. I don’t know him personally so my assessment might be way off but with the public persona he’s created for himself, he just doesn’t come across as someone I’d want any woman I know to date. I don’t know Taylor either but the pair just doesn’t jive with what I know of her. No offense (about to say something offensive) but I’m a little confused why Taylor Swift would date someone who comes across as one of the more dull tools in the shed. She must be out of songwriting material or something.

Taylor has often reminded me of a character from “Boy Meets World.” Yes, I’m going there. On the best show of the 90s, there was a girl named Corrina who dated Eric Matthews. She was a musician and after they broke up, she wrote dark, revengeful songs about “Shallow Boy” Eric. She gained a lot of fans and radio play but once Eric figured out her songwriting methods, he flipped the script and complimented her when he saw her next. His kindness softened her anger and her music reflected it. No more break-up songs.

Is Travis Kelce “ready for it”… to be part of a future Taylor Swift break-up song? This is the question he faces if the rumors are true. Or will their alleged relationship turn into an old-fashioned “Love Story.”

-Out of the Wilderness

Tom MacDonald “Race War” – Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Rodney King once asked “Can we all get along?” It was a question meant to bring people together peacefully after a horrible incident in the early 90s where King was treated very unfairly by Los Angeles cops. The police were basically all acquitted and that’s when the riots started. But King wanted a peaceful end to the destruction. The sentiment of racial harmony (or lack thereof) is echoed in Tom MacDonald’s Tom MacDonald’s new video for “Race War.” He joined forces once again with Adam Calhoun. Take a look then scroll down for more thoughts…

Treat Every Man As My Brother. This phrase in the lyrics is what it’s all about. I remember growing up, actually I should say it this way… I DON’T remember growing up thinking about anyone’s race at all. It wasn’t until adulthood that Washington politicians started reminding me and my generation that race matters. Of course, they don’t say it plainly but they’re always around to keep people divided. It’s sick.

Pro-American. One thing that Tom does very consistently is hold up the banner of being an American. Part of Adam’s lyrics in this one go like this, “I ain’t pro-black, I ain’t pro-white, I’m pro-American.” We’re on the same team but the mainstream news doesn’t really want us in harmony. There are ratings to think about. There’s money to be made in division.

Whites and Blacks Are All The Same. For as much as I love most of the lyrics in these songs from Tom, this phrase is not one I totally agree with, although I think we probably see eye to eye on what he’s saying from a zoomed out perspective. But I love the diversity of races. There are qualities of the black race that you can’t find anywhere else. Same with white people, Hispanic people, Asian people. As DCTalk once put it, “There’s joy in diversity.” When I lived in Nashville, I was on the side of town with lots of diversity. Income, race, gender, age. I loved my side of town because I got to see different cultures as close as a few houses down or a few streets over. To say I, as a white man, was just like my neighbors who were Mexican would be a missed opportunity to celebrate the great parts of each of our cultures.

You Against Me. Something’s going on in America, and it’s not good. Our foundation is being shaken and if we don’t come together with calm minds and peace as the goal, the evil powers-that-be are going to tear it all to pieces. They want us to keep fighting against each other, to stay divided. We absolutely cannot let that happen. We’re at the point where we must ask ourselves, “If not now, when?” The time is now to let go of our rigid stone-cold stances on things. To open our eyes to ugly people who only want power. Reject them and come together as Americans. It’s time to get along.

-Out of the Wilderness