Godheval » Product of the Day

Product of the Day: Jig-a-loo

Godheval — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:07:49 +0000

Jigga-who? Jigga-what?

I was in Home Depot for some wood when I stumbled across this delightful product.

If the reference is lost on you, then you might want to check the dictionary.

jig⋅a⋅boo

–noun, plural -boos. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
a black person.
Origin: 1905–10, Americanism

Word Origin & History
Insulting name for “a black person,” 1909, perhaps from jig, which had been applied insultingly to persons since the late 18th century, and ending from bugaboo.

After that, you might want to Google it, and find some delightful images and websites. Like this one.

I could conjecture so much further about the creators’ inspirations and intent. Perhaps the implication is that jig-a-loo is “greasy” – as in dirty, or “slippery”, as in criminal? Even I’ll admit that’s reaching, but you still have to wonder what goes through the minds of companies’ PR representatives when these kinds of things are approved. Do they run some sort of cost-benefit analysis and determine, perhaps, that most of the people who would take offense to this aren’t “likely” homeowners? I could go on forever.

Anyway, I don’t take this too seriously, because this kind of insensitivity is part and parcel of mainstream American society – especially the corporate sector. It’s just one of those things to make you frown, then make you shrug.

White people on the other hand, just laugh at the funny name, until they realize that jig-a-loo is one hell of a lubricant!

Product of the Day: Nabisco Barbies

Godheval — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:27:53 +0000

So I recently learned that back in 1997, Mattel and Nabisco collaborated to create a product called Oreo Fun Barbie. And in the spirit of equality, of course they made this doll in both black and white versions, not realizing until later – and after much public scrutiny – that they had inadvertently evoked something so racially charged.

Well now, in honor of such a landmark blunder, I’d like to revisit Oreo Fun Barbie, and also introduce her contemporary cousin, Ritz Cracker Barbie.

Disclaimer: Ritz Cracker Barbie is not an actual product of Mattel or Nabisco, but rather a mock-up created by me using Adobe Photoshop.

Product of the Day: Ice Rocks

Godheval — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:41:15 +0000

As a person of modest means I don’t often have the ability or even the inclination to splurge on frivolous purchases. This, along with my general distaste for American consumerism, tends to make me critical of people who spend money on what I consider to be ridiculous and unnecessary things. But today in Whole Foods Market I encountered something that raises the bar on ridiculous products.

Called “Ice Rocks”, it is spring water packaged in soft plastic packaging that looks like an ice tray, with perforations to separate each individual cube of water. So, you buy this box of water, you put it in the freezer, you take it out, separate the number of cubes you want, unwrap them individually, then put them wherever. Just in case the audacity of this product makes it difficult for you to fathom, what I am saying is that some company has put spring water into individually wrapped packages for you to freeze into ice cubes. They have made more complicated one of the easiest things in the world to do, and are charging you five times more money to do so. How much does this brilliant little item cost? About five dollars.

FIVE DOLLARS.

You can buy a gallon of spring water for about a dollar, pour it into an icetray, which also costs a dollar or less (and lasts forever) and then put it in the freezer for the same effect. So what convenience does this product provide that justifies its existence, let alone the hefty price tag? Well, it saves you all that excess time of opening a gallon of water and pouring it into an ice tray, of course! Nevermind the time it takes to separate and individually open the ice cubes, though. Seriously, if anyone has purchased this product for any reason other than as a hilarious novelty, they’re either a complete moron, or a hopeless slave to consumerism.