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Country Life

Badvertising: Country Life Butter, Starring John Lydon

by Stuart Heritage on October 16, 2008 6 Comments


Now this is just weird. Easily the weirdest advert we’ve seen since Dee Dee Ramone did that commercial for diarrhea tablets – it’s John Lydon from The Sex Pistols advertising Country Life butter.

Look at him. Look at John Lydon’s happy little face as he springs about around the Morris dancers telling everyone how delicious Country Life is. He wrote God Save The Queen, you know.

Perhaps, and we get the feeling this is true, John Lydon only decided to advertise Country Life butter on TV because its first syllable sounds a bit like a swearword. Who knows?

Nevertheless, we’re confused. Is John Lydon no longer a punk because he’s appeared in a butter advert? Or is he now doubly punk because he’s confounded our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts? Or is he even less punk than we originally thought because confounding our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts is exactly what we thought he’d do, the big sell-out? Or is he the punkest punk ever because he knew we knew that we’d expect him to confound our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts and so he’s confounded that expectation instead, thereby rebelling against our own double bluff?

Discuss.

Now this is just weird. Easily the weirdest advert we've seen since Dee Dee Ramone did that commercial for diarrhea tablets - it's John Lydon from The Sex Pistols advertising Country Life butter. Look at him. Look at John Lydon's happy little face as he springs about around the Morris dancers telling everyone how delicious Country Life is. He wrote God Save The Queen, you know. Perhaps, and we get the feeling this is true, John Lydon only decided to advertise Country Life butter on TV because its first syllable sounds a bit like a swearword. Who knows? Nevertheless, we're confused. Is John Lydon no longer a punk because he's appeared in a butter advert? Or is he now doubly punk because he's confounded our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts? Or is he even less punk than we originally thought because confounding our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts is exactly what we thought he'd do, the big sell-out? Or is he the punkest punk ever because he knew we knew that we'd expect him to confound our expectations by rebelling against the tradition that looks down on people who appear in adverts and so he's confounded that expectation instead, thereby rebelling against our own double bluff?