Thursday, July 31, 2008

Commercials: Showbiz Pizza

Before Chuck E. Cheese ditched his bow tie and went all EXTREME TO THE MAX in the mid 90s, his establishment was known as Showbiz Pizza. The restaurant's basic concept might not have changed much (except for the fact that Chuck is apparently the sole animatronic left. Boo!), but the quality of their commercials has spiraled downward. They just don't have the charm that they used to. Plus in my humble opinion, "Showbiz Pizza: where a kid can be a kid" has a MUCH better ring to it than "Chuck E. Cheese's: where a kid can be a kid".

In this first commercial, a kid laments the fact that his big brother and pals are better than him at basketball. However, upon arriving at Showbiz, he kicks Big Bro's ass at Hoop Shots™, Skee-Ball, and Whack a Mole. That's pretty unrealistic if you ask me. Sorry kids, but in real life the bigger kids most likely have the upper hand at these games too (the first two, anyway).



In the next one, a pseudo badass kid claims that HE calls the shots when it comes to his family's choice of pizza restaurants. I guess Mom and Dad wouldn't spring for a leather jacket, so kiddo had to look "rebellious" in a denim one.



On a final note, am I the only one who thought that the ball pits in those commercials were completely misleading? They were never that big or deep. I don't even think that the Showbiz Pizza I went to had a slide until I was too big for the ball pit.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

And anytime I was in the ball pit they were always too strict... grrr...

Caes said...

Oh dear. Actually the two bears from the showbiz pizza band were recently called out in this article as "worst bears ever":

http://www.voont.com/animal_awards_2_bears

Shocking. I know I was always a big showbiz fan, and I agree. Too strict in the ball pit. They're plastic.

cheryl said...

Showbis and Chuck E Cheese were competitors not the same business.. I absolutely loved ShowBiz Pizza.... it was such a cool place when video games were just becoming popular. I had my first job there it was great!

cheryl said...

Showbis and Chuck E Cheese were competitors not the same business.. I absolutely loved ShowBiz Pizza.... it was such a cool place when video games were just becoming popular. I had my first job there it was great!

Anonymous said...

Initially they were competitors. Showbiz bought Chuck E. Cheese's in the mid-80's, though they operated separately for several years.

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