THE HANDMAID'S TALE - and Hulu's tonally clueless ads. A [drunken] discussion.

Anyone else extremely unsettled by the SUPER poorly planned ads that run against Hulu's THE HANDMAID'S TALE? I mean holy shit, what the hell is going on over there?

Ice cream and Legos and period themed prostitute rape all jumbled together, with the final button of a goofy ass claymation ad for Portland. I mean, what the fuck.

Tillamook's ads celebrate the down-home values. They joke about "our convertible" (while showing a tractor. They laugh about "our pool party" while showing mud. I'm sure the point is to prove that they're "farm to table", but in such close proximity to a show that has taken the dangerous politics of "taking our country back" and "the good old days" it struck me as haunting propaganda. After watching the haunting scenes of the show, portraying the rape-y, violent, oppressive world caused after the religious right, rose up and declared war on our country. A show, portraying the horrible consequences of "returning to our old ways" in a modern setting, it's just unsettling as crap to watch a commercial that seems directed at the exact people that elected our current president. An administration that ran on the very platform that forms the basis of the party that overthrew the world in the show. Tonally insensitive.

By stark comparison, the Portland ad usually follows, which shows a bi-racial couple (and for some un-fucking-understandable reason a chicken... although now that I think of it, what self respecting hipster douche doesn't have their own chicken to lay fresh fucking artisinal eggs) that bikes and eats and drinks their way around Portland. It's almost a glaring example of exactly the kind of douchey wastes of space that the Christian right wants to wipe off the planet in the world of the show. Like, "Look at these assholes! Is this what we want! These liberal fucks, having one kid a piece are the enemy!" "And their fucking chicken too!"

And don't even get me started on the ad breaks that directly follow a the reveal of the aftermath of a female vaginal mutilation scene with a LEGO LAND commercial. Ridiculous.

First you see this:

Then you see this:

It's fucking weird. And it's DEFINITELY a jarring mixed message.

Look, there's obviously plenty fucking more to rant and rave about on how our modern world parallel's the world shown in the book, and how haunting it is to watch, but honestly, that's been fucking true since the book came out in the 80's and will continue to be true and yet not LONG after this orange idiot isn't in the Whitehouse. Yes, it's a terrifying look. No, it's not anything new.

But I have one more thing to say. What is it with Hulu's obsession with rape?! The other ads they've been running at every other break is for one of their own shows, a period piece about a brothel, that shows jump cut scenes of man after man, choking, tossing, pushing and pounding women in petticoats. Is that truly how they think they're going to compete with Netflix and Amazon?

Is that what they think we want? I mean seriously, is that what they think we need to see? On Game of Thrones, at least the brutal sword and chain sex we see seems at least mostly voluntary, (even if it may or may not be incest.)

Or am I the asshole? Does everyone else feel wonderfully balanced watching a post-war traditional values nightmare while eating farm fresh ice-cream and dreaming of Lego inspired fun?

No really, I worry. I mean, I wouldn't call it worry. It doesn't keep me up at night drinking whiskey and watching dystopian dramas until I'm tired enough to fall asleep, weary and depressed with only my tiny dog to keep me company. Speaking of the little bastard, take a look at how cute he is!

Ah, fuck it all. Have some ice cream!