| Sunday, December 30, 2001 |
20:51 - The Blue Man Group Committed Suicide, And the Weapon was Intel
http://www.blueman.com
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Does anybody even realize where the Blue Man Group came from?
Popular culture only knows them from the Intel ads, one campaign ago. Most of my friends consider them to be a bunch of "annoying blue mimes" (a direct quote) that were invented by Intel as a lame marketing stunt. And they hate them.
If these people go to Chicago or Las Vegas, they'll see billboards announcing the stage show that the BMG has been doing for years, since well before Intel hired them. I've seen it. The show is imaginative and exhilarating. But now nobody will see it, because they think the BMG just spun pointlessly off from the stupid Intel ads.
I guess signing the Intel contract must have seemed like a good idea at the time for the BMG. But what's happened is that it's been the death of their opportunity for the national public spotlight. And that's a damn shame.
Intel dumped the ad campaign after it became clear that it wasn't garnering much favor-- understandably, since the BMG style of humor doesn't come across very well in a 30-second spot. And when the Intel exec axed them, it was with the peevish growl of a failed bad idea. Probably nary a thought to the fact that they'd just done irreparable damage to an outstanding group of performers and their engaging, original show.
Oh-- and don't forget, the BMG stage show has always been a totally Mac-driven show backstage. So maybe they deserve what they're getting. Hey, poetic justice does work in mysterious ways.
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