Jul 032012
Chuck E. Cheese is getting a rock ‘n roll makeover.
The new Chuck E. Cheese that launches this week will be voiced by Jaret Reddick, the lead singer for the pop-punk band Bowling for Soup. The Chuck E. Cheese Facebook page now shows a silhouette of a cartoon mouse playing a guitar.
A rat mascot for a kids’ food joint. A spokesman who’s sung a jokey love song to his “bitch.” Dirtbag Nation, if you ever doubted that Chuck E. Cheese was the place to hold your kid’s next birthday party rest assured: your trash is welcome. But don’t let that perv Pee-wee and his act anywhere near the children!
There is just so much wrong with this – it rivals Disney’s resign of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures as a t shirt for Mickey Mouse.
Frankly, if I’m going to have to see men galavanting around in nothing but flour, I would like their physiques to be a bit more…pizza worthy.
As a parent I have never had an experience as bleak and disturbing as watching my daughter feeling out of place and overwhelmed at a Chuck E Cheese birthday party. They could have Fred Rogers or Charles Manson doing the voice, wouldn’t make a difference when the restaurant, its concept, its food and its realization is a coagulation of everything that is shitty and disposable about American culture and mindless condescension toward children.
Oops – “resign” should be “redesign.” Darn autocorrect.
Hey, Mod, I get your wrath, but stop hating on Pee Wee. I don’t think his kerfuffle involved children.
I believe the Mod’s comment toward Pee-Wee was intended to represent the thinking of the evil management of Chuck E. Cheese, not his own editorial position.
ladymiss, I think Pee-wee is great. The reason I bring him into the discussion is based on my longstanding belief that he got the RAWEST DEAL in the history of the entertainment business/PR world. His career and act were immediately ruined because he got caught jerking off in a porn theater. Kids didn’t need to know. Kids didn’t need to care. He was jerking off to adult porn. He was not accompanied by kids. And yeah, he had some pot on him, if memory serves. The whole thing was incredibly stupid on his part, but the industry and large chunks of society were happy to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
Today, as Dirtbag Nation continues to gain steam, I’m confronted on a daily basis with all kinds of stuff I find way more offensive than the thought of Pee-wee jerking off in a porn theater, starting with casual references to “bitches” on seemingly every network but Disney and Nickelodeon. Even my homegirl Tina Fey throws around that term on a regular basis. I don’t like it. I don’t need to hear it used that way. If someone wants to “bitch” about something, as I’m doing right now, and define the act as “bitching,” I’ve got no problem. Calling someone a “bitch,” though, really gets on my nerves. The term is rooted in violence against women, and I can’t support that.
I really have little interest in criticizing Chuck E. Cheese’s or the dudes from this minor pop-punk band. The underlying point of the post was to take a moment to reflect on Pee-wee’s raw deal and the weird standards that exist.
This situation was done much better when the in your face dog with attitude Poochie was added to the Itchy and Scratchy show. How brain dead is this campaign.
If they are going to update the mascot to be more relevant, I suggest a cartoon beaver wearing Lady Gaga’s cone bra. Kids would get that.
I remember Poochie, he was totally extreme to the max.
I understand that the campaign is meant to appeal to extremely young children, but I bet they are even too sophisticated to fall for this bland cliche.
Another suggestion would be to change him from Chuck E. to Chuck D. Cheese and have him voiced by the Public Enemy singer. I’d buy whatever that righteous rat told me to.
That’s a good idea!
Yes, I love this! I can see the birthday parties now… “Limbo! How low can you go? Death Row! Happy birthday, yo!”
BTW, in case you missed Pee Wee on “Wait wait don’t tell me” discussing his breakfast cereal that never was:
http://www.cerealfix.com/news/pee-wee-chow-the-greatest-cereal-never-made/
Well said. Thank goodness this was not going to be a Wes Anderson issue for us.
Or Terrance and Phillip.
Mod, if it’s any consolation, I’ve watched Pee Wee’s Big Adventure with my kids, but whenever they’ve asked if we can go to Chuck E Cheese, I give the standard answer “Yeah, maybe sometime. I’ll have to look into that,” which in our house means “Absolutely not”.
That’s a tremendous parenting technique that others can follow.
See, there are people who don’t check into the Halls of Rock because they think we do nothing but talk shit. There are life lessons to be shared, folks.
That “Poochie” episode was the first thing I thought of when I saw this post!