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Oh, C’mon, GrubHub!

There’s a new GrubHub ad in my subway stop:

In case you can’t quite make it out, the freakishly anthropomorphic hot dog is offering a flower to the similarly grotesque female bun. (We know she’s gynecomorphous due to the employment of a convention tried and true since the time of Ms. Pac-Man: she’s wearing a bow.) And this ladylike imminent flower recipient bread product is meanwhile thinking: “Hope he brought condiments, too.” Beneath all of which is written, “You’ll Want to Do It Again & Again.”

Jack, Mike, you’re killing me. Deciphering the safely-assumed sexual content of your ads is fun only so long as said sexual content is buried—buried exquisitely deeply. (I’ll trust that you know what I mean.)

GOOD:

(See my original post on this subject for a close reading of this advertisement.)

ALSO GOOD:

(Again, see that original post for why.)

BAD:

I just hate when there’s nothing left for me to do!

Meanwhile, in other GrubHub-related news, I finally tracked down a copy of of the “something spicy” ad that I mentioned in that first post:

This one isn’t the worst, although it’s much too overt for my tastes. As I pointed out before:

The cute touch in this one is that she’s blocking her chest with a laptop, which has a pear in lieu of an apple. Which is a bit of a loss, in terms of straight sexual symbolism, even though it does raise the question of what pears represent, and what they cost you.

I suppose it’s also worth observing that they’re (presumably) both naked. Which is plausible; some couples get into bed naked and then do some work when they know they’re later going to, ahem, order takeout. But I prefer the reading that this is a pre-Fall scenario: our Adam and Eve are not disrobed, but have yet to robe in the first place, since they persist in an Edenic Bliss and know not yet of their nakedness. (However, how she can use a laptop without conscious worldly knowledge remains a difficult point. Perhaps we’re glimpsing them perched right upon the precipice of sin? Which would have dire implications for GrubHub’s patrons. Unless they’re into sin. And who isn’t these days?)

In conclusion, in the immortal words of Little Murders‘s Lt. Practice: “Come on! Will you shape up?

  • A. D. Jameson is the author of five books, most recently I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS AND THE TRIUMPH OF GEEK CULTURE and CINEMAPS: AN ATLAS OF 35 GREAT MOVIES (with artist Andrew DeGraff). Last May, he received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the Program for Writers at UIC.

6 thoughts on “Oh, C’mon, GrubHub!

  1. Notice also the clock shows 11:12. This appears to be an allusion to XX:XY, the combination of male and female chromosomes. Indeed, the depicted delivery order might not be only a dramatization of the Judeo-Christian creation myth, but also of genetic theory and the origin of homo sapiens.

    One remaining question is whether the “spicy” nature of the food order refers to the migration of early humans in the Indian sub-continent.
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1114_051114_india.html

    Disclosure: I work for GrubHub.

  2. There’s also debate here in our new New York office about the pear shape on the MacBook Faux. Is it:

    a) a physical metaphor, mirroring the shape of a pregnant female, and thus foreshadowing the fertility powers provided by the Chicken Vindaloo, or

    b) a literal–and diametrically opposed–one: is the couple’s relationship about to come up pear-shaped? Will their samosa-fueled romp lead to mechanical failure and physical disfigurement?

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