On this week’s Beancast the topic of viral vs memes came up, I won’t spoil the show for you, but to sum up the host’s question, “is there too much pressure on creatives to come up with something that becomes a meme?”
It reminded me of a meme from the 90s that definitely went too far – Tango’s ‘You know when you’ve been tangoed’
- For my non-British readers, Tango is an orange (also available in other flavours) soft drink.
The Wikipedia entry for Tango has a good summary of the controversy the advert caused:
It received widespread condemnation after a craze for “Tangoing” people swept the nation’s playgrounds, and there were reports of children receiving serious injuries or even being deafened by being slapped on the ears.
It’s difficult to predict what will catch on, but if the aim of an advert is to create a meme, this commercial stands as a lesson to avoid repeatable acts of physical violence, especially in advertising targeting kids!
If that advert has given you a thirst for vintage UK TV ads, check out TV-Ark
