Local Man "Very Disappointed" in New 'Crabby Joe's' Radio Commercial
London resident Colin Switlicki sighed and turned off the radio saying he yearned for the "good ol' days."
Try as he might, Switlicki confessed that he just couldn't "get into" the change in direction taken by the producers of the new radio-ad campaign for the local restaurant-chain Crabby John's Steakhouse and Seafood Emporium.
"I don't consider myself an 'old Fogarty' by any stretch of the imagination but the new marketing strategy just doesn't do anything for me," admits the 53-year-old Switlicki adding that, "Back in 'the day' it was all about 'the Crabby.'
"Remember when every Crabby John radio commercial had a storyline in which Crabby John was constantly being taunted by his customers who congratulated him on his $115 T-Bone Steak Specials - Served All Day? Or that lunch-time business deals were always sealed early due to Crabby's Buck-a-beer pre-luncheon special (only offered between 11:00 and noon); or his Kids eat free every Tuesday! (offer only applies to children under the age of one.) Man, when it comes to 'Theatre of the Mind' - which is what radio really is, if you think about it - now that's what I call Art."
"But I'm sorry because with this new promotion, the focus is all wrong. They've turned 'Crabby John' from being gruff and unloveable into a gruff but loveable Disneyfied 'Grumpy the Elf'' from Snow White. No, I just can't go along with that. It violates the integrity of the original concept. The whole 'Crabby John' mythology has been compromised. And for what? For something better? For a higher plane of 'Art'? Noooo - it's just to get new customers who hope to win big with the new contest they're promoting. Ooooh, a free trip to Toronto!"
Switlicki says that he would like to personally take his complaints directly to 'Crabby John' himself but unfortunately has never been in any of the two Crabby John franchises in the London area. Or even to their only other outlet in St. Thomas. "Yeah, I'd really like to give him a piece of my mind or at least some constructive criticism," says Switlicki. "But I'm a vegetarian and have an allergy to shell-fish so they probably wouldn't take me seriously."
According to his wife, Susan Switlicki, this is nothing new to her husband. "You should have seen him after they stopped running the radio commercials for 'Marvellous Marv - Your man at the Gibralter Trade Centre' - he was inconsolable for days. Even today whenever they run an ad for Trails End or Covent Garden Market, he starts bitching about how they got rid of "that great punster Marv."
Next week - Area Man Peppers His Conversation with Catchphrases from Get Smart.
Try as he might, Switlicki confessed that he just couldn't "get into" the change in direction taken by the producers of the new radio-ad campaign for the local restaurant-chain Crabby John's Steakhouse and Seafood Emporium.
"I don't consider myself an 'old Fogarty' by any stretch of the imagination but the new marketing strategy just doesn't do anything for me," admits the 53-year-old Switlicki adding that, "Back in 'the day' it was all about 'the Crabby.'
"Remember when every Crabby John radio commercial had a storyline in which Crabby John was constantly being taunted by his customers who congratulated him on his $115 T-Bone Steak Specials - Served All Day? Or that lunch-time business deals were always sealed early due to Crabby's Buck-a-beer pre-luncheon special (only offered between 11:00 and noon); or his Kids eat free every Tuesday! (offer only applies to children under the age of one.) Man, when it comes to 'Theatre of the Mind' - which is what radio really is, if you think about it - now that's what I call Art."
"But I'm sorry because with this new promotion, the focus is all wrong. They've turned 'Crabby John' from being gruff and unloveable into a gruff but loveable Disneyfied 'Grumpy the Elf'' from Snow White. No, I just can't go along with that. It violates the integrity of the original concept. The whole 'Crabby John' mythology has been compromised. And for what? For something better? For a higher plane of 'Art'? Noooo - it's just to get new customers who hope to win big with the new contest they're promoting. Ooooh, a free trip to Toronto!"
Switlicki says that he would like to personally take his complaints directly to 'Crabby John' himself but unfortunately has never been in any of the two Crabby John franchises in the London area. Or even to their only other outlet in St. Thomas. "Yeah, I'd really like to give him a piece of my mind or at least some constructive criticism," says Switlicki. "But I'm a vegetarian and have an allergy to shell-fish so they probably wouldn't take me seriously."
According to his wife, Susan Switlicki, this is nothing new to her husband. "You should have seen him after they stopped running the radio commercials for 'Marvellous Marv - Your man at the Gibralter Trade Centre' - he was inconsolable for days. Even today whenever they run an ad for Trails End or Covent Garden Market, he starts bitching about how they got rid of "that great punster Marv."
Next week - Area Man Peppers His Conversation with Catchphrases from Get Smart.
posted by Sonny Drysdale at 10:29 AM
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