The other night, I saw for the first time ever a commercial for Panda Express. You’ve probably seen a Panda Express before at your local mall food court; if I’m hungry and at the mall and in the mood for fast greasy Chinese food, Panda Express is there to serve its purpose. So I was kind of shocked to see a commercial for the restaurant — I mean, I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there. But what got me were the two UGLY talking pandas, Eddie and Tom-Tom, with a “gong” at the end of the commercial as the tag line “Experience Pandamonium” is shown along with the Panda Express logo.
Since the Panda Express is the name of the restaurant, it’s not a huge surprise that the restaurant uses talking pandas to pitch itself. But there’s also been another commercial that has been bothering me that’s been airing for a while — Wanchai Ferry’s “restaurant quality Chinese in your grocer’s freezer” commercial pitching their orange chicken – with, you guessed it, another UGLY talking panda.
What’s with the ugly talking pandas pitching Chinese food? I wonder how much money it would cost to make a decent looking panda suit or something in CGI? Enough of the ugly talking pandas! Jennifer 8. Lee, do something!
