Ford Raptor Commercial – “All In” on Gay Pride

Hello there and thanks for stopping by! I post every day at 1pm central so take a sec to sign up for email reminders. I write about all kinds of things from dating, camping, roller skating, and commercials like today’s post. For some reason Ford thought it would be a good idea to release some feminine energy with this Raptor commercial. Will this decision be a gigantic Bud Light-sized failure (Bud Light, making alcoholics sober since 2023), or is it a stroke of genius? Check out the ad and I’ll share my thoughts below…

This isn’t the first time Ford has walked a fine line of being “Ford tough” but also embracing their inner gayness. OK, that might be a stretch but there was another commercial featuring the Explorer “Men Only” edition which sort of belittled men and put women on a pedestal (check it here). Coupled with this gay Raptor commercial, what exactly is Ford saying about traditional male roles in society and culture?

My initial thought is that the commercial is dumb and out of touch. *Exaggeration upcoming* No gay people buy these big trucks!

OK, maybe there is a soft, uncallous hand-ful of gay men that drive pick-up trucks but not many. This advertisement totally missed the mark, then. Or does it? Maybe Ford sees the “tough” gay man (which is an obvious oxymoron) as an untapped market. In that case, there is money to be made and Ford’s on top of it! But one might wonder if they’re going to lose more customers than they gain because, if history and culture is any indication, the folks who buy Ford trucks (at least the big honkers that can pull 5th wheel trailers) are typically more traditional and won’t be super pumped about the colorful truck.

You know who should send a “thank you” card to Ford, though. Chevrolet. It must’ve felt like Christmas morning for them. Although, Chevy has done their fair share of catering to the 5SLBGNTLSWPD+ market. Maybe the real winners from this ad are companies like Nissan and Toyota… you know, the ones who focus on trucks and not gayness.

-Out of the Wilderness

Amazon Prime’s Chef Commercial – The Music and More!

I knew it wouldn’t be long before Amazon had another ad airing around the country. A recent commercial focusing on a mustached woman trying to fit in with her peers (actress and music in this post) has given way to a bearded man making meals. The facial hair isn’t what the ad’s about, though. This guy is an amateur chef moonlighting as a night guard but he’s about go pro with the help of Amazon… check it out then scroll down for more info!

The Music. Setting the mood is a song called “Memphis Soul Stew” by King Curtis. It was released in 1971. Here’s the full track…

The guy goes from eating simply sandwiches to gourmet creations aided by Amazon’s delivery services and videos on Amazon Prime (like “The Boys” and “James May: Oh Cook”). Do you like the commercial? What has been your experience with Amazon? Chime in below and I’ll see you tomorrow at 1pm central.

-Out of the Wilderness

Has anyone noticed the gas prices lately?

Even with the Willow Project getting a green light from Joe Biden (which must infuriate anyone who voted for him), I’ve noticed gas prices are rising yet again! Of course, I understand the Willow Project drilling in Alaska won’t happen anytime soon but usually when there’s news like that, it affects the market pretty quickly. Yet I’m spending more every time I fill up than I did the previous fill-up.

Another peculiar thing is that I haven’t heard a peep about it in the news. That might be because I rarely watch the news, but let’s be honest… it’s not an election year so gas prices aren’t a big deal even when it’s rising weekly. You’d think it would be a topic making its way to YouTubers, bloggers, etc, since the average price is over $3.50 per gallon.

Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to (expletive) things up.

Barack Obama

I guess prices will start coming down when there’s another election on the horizon. Until then, we’ll just have to suck it up, Buttercup.

-Out of the Wilderness

NBA Finals Commercial Almost Got Me – The Music, the Legends, and More

I’ll say this, for not having watched the NBA regularly in quite some time because of a multitude of reasons, this new commercial promoting the finals almost made me feel something. Almost. That’s saying a lot since I haven’t felt anything towards the NBA since the days of Chris Webber, Jason Williams, and the whole crew on the Sacramento Kings. Here’s the ad, then scroll down for more info…

The Music. Playing in the background of the commercial is an old song (circa 2008) from Adele. I know, who? It’s called “Hometown Glory.” She might make it big in music, we’ll see.

The Stars. The commercial features some big names across multiple sports and industries. In order of appearance, there’s SUGA (from k-pop boy band BTS), famed skateboarder Tony Hawk, basketball legend Magic Johnson, former NFL QBs Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, another NBA legend Larry Bird, and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

The actor performing the voiceover is a name you might recognize, John Malkovich, who I can only always associate him with his role in the movie Con Air.

I told you not to touch the bunny. OK, I know that was a line from Nicholas Cage but I just couldn’t NOT include it. See y’all tomorrow at 1pm central for another post…

-Out of the Wilderness

I got turned away at a restaurant!

The other day I was driving around picking up meals and delivering them to hungry people (I’m such a saint, aren’t I?) and I actually went to a restaurant that, surprisingly, turned me away. This humble, selfess man arrives to pick up food just to bring it to those in need and he gets sent away? What gives!

OK, OK, before you touch my shoulders with a sword and start calling me sir………… I was working for Uber Eats. The meal was for someone who’s willing to pay for their food, plus a convenience fee, plus a delivery fee, plus a tip, plus etc etc etc so it’s not like I was serving the poor or anything.

So I arrive at this busy restaurant and make my way to the back and the chef /cook guy says I’ll need to cancel the order. He explained quickly that he was way too busy to complete the order. I’m not slamming the chef at all, in fact I have compassion for him. Have you ever been working so hard that all you could do to keep your head above water was tell people to go away? That’s the position this guy was in. So I left, had the order cancelled, and the customer had to figure out something different for dinner. This tells me two things:

1. That restaurant is popular (it kept popping up on my Uber app but I declined it for the rest of the night).

2. It’s almost the exact opposite of my experience in a couple of well-known fast food restaurants.

So many times I’ll arrive at one of these fast food restaurants where there’s no one else in the place, except the employees where the one up front makes direct eye with me, then without saying a word, walks away. What in tarnation!? Customer service doesn’t actually take much effort, at least for the bare minimum. A simple, “Have you been helped yet?” goes a loooooooong way. Another time I walked through the entire staff who were sitting on the outside steps talking and smoking and talking. I waiting by the registers and one of them came in to take my order a few minutes later. Yet again, once with family at a fast food joint, we were told we were going to have to wait to order because they were busy. Nobody was in the dining area and no one was in the drive-through. We were shocked into laughter. After responding by telling this person we’ll just go somewhere else, she said, “OK we’re ready, what do you want to order?”

Things that make you go hmmmm!

-Out of the Wilderness