Around the late 80's maybe the early 90's, there was a very annoying commercial that ran almost non-stop. I'm not sure if this was shown outside the NY area but whether you've heard of it or not there's no escaping Pearl Cream.
I had no idea what Pearl Cream was. What I did know was that I wanted to smack the lady who was selling it, Nancy Kwan. In hindsight, that would have been pretty unfair to her but if you look at this commercial today in today's "political correct" standards, something is terribly wrong here. Let's take a gander...
You know something is great right away when Nancy Kwan tells you about movies she's been in that you've never heard of. "Noble House"? A movie called "The World Of Suzie Wong"? I love the old movie poster too, it looks like its from 1950's.
Anyway, the key moment that sets discrimination back 100 years is when she asks you how hard it is to tell "how old most oriental women" are. Yeesh, someone needed to tell Nancy or her writer that its "asian" not "oriental". Even when I was a little kid, I knew that "oriental" was the wrong word to use.
To me though the best line in the whole thing comes in at 26 seconds. Not only is the product called "Pearl Cream" but its also "made from real pearls". I still imitate the way she says it to my wife which drives her nuts not only because I remembered this commercial but also for my uncanny resemblence to how Nancy Kwan says it. I do realize that I should be slapped across the face myself for finding this funny however.
Back to the product though. Would you ever use a product made from pulverized pearls? The testimonials are hilarious especialyl from the grandmother who's grandkids thought she had a facelift. I didn't know what a facelift was until I was probably 15 years old. I also like at :54, Nancy says that for years only the rich could afford this product but with an increase in the lower cost of gathering something called "pearl oysters", its now affordable. WTF are pearl oysters?!? Why would you grind up pearls for $19.99 a jar when you could put them on a string and sell them for hundreds of dollars?
Lastly, they stamp the word "Oriental" right on the product as well. Good job on that one. Nancy Kwan must have left her integrity at her home when she picked her paycheck for this advertisement.
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