My Sunday Feeling

We have recent proof that there is no issue the gelatinous Ted Cruz will not demogogue.  Having evidently grown weary of pimping for Dr. Seuss, he has turned his sights, along with fellow Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, to the burning pseudo controversy concerning trans “influencer” (whatever that means) Dylan Mulvaney, whom Anheuser-Busch adopted as a front person for Bud Light.     

At this point let me state that I am damn near 100% impervious to advertising, via whatever media.  There is no advertising, save for the exceedingly rare public service spot, that can create a "need" in me to spend money.  Now if I'm in the market for, say, golf shoes and I see that a golf store is running a sale on golf shoes, well that's useful information and I will go check it out.  Similarly speaking, I have a friend who drives a Buick which he recommends highly.  If I decide to get a new car I may check out Buicks. And I may visit the dealer in Bryant, Arkansas.  Not because i enjoy her stupid TV ads.  On the contrary, I find them annoying.  Especially the one with the kids in it.  But I will check out Everett Buick-GMC because I've never heard anything all that bad about them and I know for a fact that Suzie Everett gives a lot of money back to her community.  That doesn’t mean I’ll buy a car from her.  But I might be inclined to check her out.

People like me are in the minority.  They don't teach advertising and marketing in college because the industries are going broke.  

But this is why I never heard of Dylan Mulvaney until just the the other day when Kid Rock dropped a video of the beloved entertainer shooting up cans of Bud Light in protest.  I don't pay attention to ads and I don’t do Instagram.  So that was my first knowledge of the national crisis.

Anyway, Cruz and Blackburn have written something called the Beer Institute (who knew?) asking them to launch an investigation into Bud Light's advertising practices.  The theory is that the ads featuring Mulroney were an improper inducement to underage people.  They didn't accuse Bud Light of (Buzz word alert!) "grooming" but they probably wanted to.

What's going on here is neither sinister nor terribly complicated.  From what I read Bud Light wanted to expand its market beyond the caucasian frat boys and rednecks that traditionally buy that product.  Boy did they.  (Full disclosure.  I buy Bud Light.  I’m not making a statement other than keeping Joe out of what’s left of the Dixie.)      

I wonder if Cruz knows that Subaru pitched their cars almost exclusively to lesbians in the Eighties and Nineties.  (Another full disclosure.  I drive a Subaru.  But not for that reason.  I am not a lesbian. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT.) 

In doing what little research I did for this post, I've learned that all of the carmakers are in serious competition for the LGBTQ buck.  Because gay folks buy cars!  Just as trans folk evidently buy beer.  And if Bud Light doesn't sell it to them, Miller Light will.    

Bidness is bidness.

Seeing as how the current head of The Beer Institute is the CEO at Anheuser- Busch, my guess is that Cruz and Blackburn will get told to pound sand.  And that will be that until the next manufactured controversy. 

So my advice to Ted is to sit back, chill out and to pound a couple of Bud LIghts along with that sand.  Maybe turn on an Astros game.  Just don't pay too much attention to the commercial interruptions.

Those advertisers are trying to sell stuff to anybody with a buck to spend.  Be they gay trans or whatever.  

Bidness is bidness.

My Sunday Feeling

 God knows the City of Little Rock has got its fair share of problems.  Many of those problems have been recounted in this space.  And because I am weary of them, along with this cold I am fighting off, I do not care to re-allege all of the things I have been bitching about the past three years or so.  Rather, I choose to accentuate the positive today.

I spent Thursday afternoon at the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (née Arkansas Arts Center) at McArthur Park.  Oh. My. God.  While I had long admired the superstructure as it was going up over the last 4 years I was not prepared for what awaited me inside.

But first some background. I have fond memories of the old AAC.  It was borne initially by a committee of busy body social doyennes, which is how social and artistic progress used to get kick-started around these parts, called the Fine Arts Club.  This was around 1915.  It eventually morphed into the AAC in the sixties.  Its museum and studios have graced MacArthur Park downtown since those days.

The museum underwent something of a renovation about the time I got back from law school @ 1982 or so.  But the old girl still pretty much looked that the same place, only dumpier, I knew in high school.  I last set foot in the AAC around 2016 with my then girlfriend to see the Annual Delta art exhibit.  Great exhibit.  Mediocre surroundings.

Mediocre no more. Boy would the old gals from the Fine Arts Club be surprised.  

I do not have an artistic bone in my body.  I completely unqualified to write about these matters.  So here goes nothing.

But the AMFA is simply stunning.  The word space kept coming to my mind as I walked through the new building.  The exhibit halls are huge and what contributes to this sense of space is the numerous floor to ceiling windows throughout the museum.  I will have to go back soon to take a harder look at the artwork on the walls and floors.  I was too busy admiring the building.

And it occurred to me-duh-that the structure itself is to be regarded as a piece of art in and of itself.  Nobody ever said that about the old AAC.

There is a large sitting room/coffee shop.  I enjoyed sitting there and looking at the surrounding neighborhood through the huge windows.  And guess what?  There is a real restaurant.  With a wet bar.  Too bad Winthrop Rockefeller-who helped raise money for the old AAC- isn’t around to see this.  I’m guessing he would approve.  

To say that I was floored is to understate the case considerably.  Of course I am a member and I look forward to spending many happy hours there with that former girlfriend who has since become my wife.  Maybe we can drag the kids along as well.  

The new AMFA is proof that the City of Little Rock can get involved with something and not screw it up completely.  For once.

Now can we please bring back golf to War Memorial Park?