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I have always been somewhat creeped out by commercials that feature animated food or animals urging people to eat them. See also: Douglas Adams's "Dish of the Day", and Alice being introduced to Mutton and Plum Pudding on the other side of the Looking-Glass; not to mention Paul Gallico's charming children's book Manxmouse.
But recent commercials for M&Ms are even more troubling. Red M&M doesn't want to be eaten, but people around him talk about eating him, start gnawing on him despite his objections, and eventually stuff him — kicking and yelling — into an oven.
In Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs, there's a line: "An intelligent food animal! Hitler would have fled, retching." I've always thought that Niven was a bit of an optimist on that point.
But recent commercials for M&Ms are even more troubling. Red M&M doesn't want to be eaten, but people around him talk about eating him, start gnawing on him despite his objections, and eventually stuff him — kicking and yelling — into an oven.
In Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs, there's a line: "An intelligent food animal! Hitler would have fled, retching." I've always thought that Niven was a bit of an optimist on that point.
