A few weeks ago we wrote that one John & Edward X Factor performance was the point when light entertainment died, was reborn then ate itself. Well, this full page advertisement in today's Sun (which looks oddly familiar although we can't think why) is what it looks like when light entertainment spews itself back up again round the back of Wetherspoon's then continues dry retching as it staggers up the high street in search of a kebab.
It's great work on Cheestrings ad team's part, obviously, and a good illustration of how John & Edward have already gone beyond being a pop act (if they ever were one) and are now simply a 'thing' that is all around us, like oxygen, or the threat of global warming.
We wrote recently about Katy Brand's terrible Lady Gaga 'parody', and discussed how some popstars can become well known enough in the right kind of way for a mainstream comedy show to be able to create a caricature whose 'jokes' resonate with a few million viewers. This John & Edward phenomenon is more than that. When an element of pop culture is so well-acknowledged and immediately recognised that a rubbish clearance company (!) can start using it as the basis for a viral ad campaign…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_wfG1CT1rg
…and when that element of pop culture's core (lack of) values are so universally well known that even things like this…
…make sense to the entire nation, that piece of pop culture has more power, however fleeting it might be, than most popstars achieve in their entire careers.
