So I was watching MTV, and I saw this ad:
Okay, first of all, do the kids still watch Looney Tunes? I’m serious. Back in my day, they had a half hour block on Nickelodeon. That’s where I memorized all the classics (including the Speedy Gonzales ones, which I imagine no network would ever show nowadays (which I guess I agree with)). But according to Wikipedia, Looney Tunes is (are?) currently not regularly aired on any U.S. station. I’m not necessarily saying that kids don’t know who Pepe Le Pew is. I’m just saying that having him selling cells, 47 years after his final cartoon, seems a little odd.
On the other hand, using Pepe is a brilliant masterstroke. In the cartoons, you’ll recall, the cat was always accidentally painted like a skunk, and completely horrified at Pepe’s amorous advances. When you think about it, Pepe may be our culture’s strongest symbol of the Luckless Suitor (well, they could have gone with Jon Arbuckle, but that would have been weird(er)). But in this commercial, the cat’s head over heels for the skunk. In fact, she’s painting herself (lest he find out the truth and shun her). The point seems to be that the AT&T phone gives you such an advantage in the mating game, it can make even a skunk into Robert Pattinson.
So I give it points for cleverness, and I give it points for nostalgia. It’s a little creepy imagining explicit text messages with a horrible French accent, but still, Vive L’amour.