Our Commercial Culture: Batchelors Super Noodles

Cash, Money, Noodles

​Our world is full of advertising. Everywhere we look, it's buy this; feel like that. That's a given. We've come to expect it -- maybe even enjoy it sometimes as a subtle reminder that we're not alone. "Other people want excellent bleaching power from their laundry detergent too? Gosh, I feel better already." While many adverts are ridiculous and stupid, others are dramatic, thoughtful, or just plain clever. In fact, almost the entire range of human experience can be found expressed in television spots geared at trying to sell us things. This week, a spot from Batchelors Super Noodles treads into some absurdist territory.

Putting British Pounds in noodles and enticing potential customers with the possibility of scoring some cash makes perfect sense. The anticipation of winning is a powerful thing, hence why Black Hawk is so popular. What doesn't make sense is why soggy noodles would come spewing out of a random ATM because a company put some bills in a few of their noodle packs. They had to put the noodles somewhere, right?

Suppose they're trying to make the connection between people's love of money and the company's noodles; well, money is rather gross when you think about it -- you have no idea where that money has been, and frankly, you don't want to know -- and noodles in any context other than a bowl are gross too. Two counts of gross for Batchelors Super Noodles. Not only that, their Willy Wonka-esque ploy feels more like a bribe than a prize. It's like saying, we know our noodles are bad, so we'll pay you to buy them. Which kind of makes sense. Sort of.

Either way, the bloke in the ad is adorable, so at least there's that.

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