Here in Springfield, Illinois, we take our most beloved native son Abraham Lincoln very seriously. For that reason, I was not pleased to see the Mountain Dew Commercial last night portraying Abraham Lincoln as a wrestler. Anybody seen this? Anybody else think it’s in poor taste? Now I’ve said it, Mountain Dew is tasteless and this commercial is stupid, which is exactly why it probably appeals to brainless teenagers. Marketing at it’s best and worst, all in one!
Your not alone! I am a liberal 30 something Floridian who finds this just as disrespectful. I actually just did a search about this to see if i was alone. I am glad i am not.
Thanks for your response, Mark. I am glad to know I am not the only one who feels this way!
Personally, I thought this ad was hilarious, not only because I am a wrestler, but because Lincoln actually was a fan too. I honestly don’t see how this is at all disrespctful. I also loved his Eagle tat! ha!
Thanks for sharing your teenage viewpoint so politely, Dan. I am curious to know though how Lincoln could have been a fan of wrestling? Please share your insight on this subject.
Found another post about this commercial, and I would have to agree with this blogger”s Dad:
http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/reviews/2009/03/27/lincoln-mountain-dew-commercial-disrespectful#comments
However, I have received some additional information from Dan regarding Lincoln and wrestling, and I’ll share that next.
I loved this commercial. I don’t think it disrespects him at all. People need to not take things so seriously and have fun.
I agree that it is in poor taste but your comment about teenagers is also disrespectful. Is there a “Robert’s Rules” for blogging? If there is, I hope there is a chapter on “righteousness versus self-righteousness.”
It’s the funniest thing, and Lincoln was actually like this! He would LOVE this commercial!!
Thanks to all for your thoughts, and special thanks to Dan, who has provided information explaining that Lincoln was in fact a wrestler! This helps to explain the concept behind this commercial better, although I still don’t like how Lincoln is portrayed in it. Here is the info on Lincoln as a wrestler (and I am not sure of the credibility of this source, only passing it along), followed by the link Dan provided for this information:
Abraham Lincoln
The 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, was also a wrestler. Renowned for his wrestling skills was young Abraham Lincoln, who was the wrestling champion of his county as early as 1830, at the age of 21. Lincoln was an impressive physical specimen, thin but wiry and muscular, strengthened by hard work in the fields and towering to a mighty 6 feet, 4 inches in height. It was at this time that Lincoln had his celebrated bout with Jack Armstrong, the local tough and county wrestling champion. Lincoln was keeping the store at New Salem, Illinois, when his boss backed him to out-wrestle the feared Armstrong. From the start, Lincoln proceeded to hand out a thrashing to the local champion. Frustrated by Lincoln’s enormous reach, Armstrong started fouling his opponent. Lincoln stood it for a while, but eventually lost his temper. Picking up his opponent, the storekeeper dashed him to the ground and knocked him out. Armstrong recovered in time to keep his cronies from starting a free-for-all. A couple of years later, while serving as captain of a company of the Illinois Volunteers, raised because of the Indian uprising by Black Hawk, Lincoln suffered his only recorded defeat in a wrestling bout. He fought a soldier from another unit and lost a rugged struggle by the odd fall. This time it was Lincoln who averted the free-for-all which seems of have been the customary follow-up to an individual wrestling bout. Often forsaking the ”common British” style of collar and elbow for the free-for-all style of the frontier, Lincoln undoubtedly was the roughest and toughest of the wrestling Presidents. Also known as ”catch-as-catch-can,” this style was more hand-to-hand combat than sport. Lincoln progressed rapidly between the ages of 19, when he defended his stepbrother’s river barge from Natchez thugs, throwing the potential highjackers overboard, and 29, when he cautiously mentioned himself as possibly the second best wrestler in southern Illinois. Lincoln certainly did not achieve any national fame as a wrestler, but his career was typical of the way the sport was conducted in the first half of the 19th Century.
http://www.bloomington.in.us/~southmat/famous.html
What’s your problem with mtn dew portraying lincoln as a wrestler
he was a wrestling fan and he actually had a sense of humor
maybe you should follow his example.
I’m decades older than a teen and I don’t see the fuss in this commercial. It was creative & thoughtful and if Lincoln was in fact a wrestler, then I learned something new. Even if Lincoln was not a fan of wrestling I don’t think of this as in poor taste. At least they did show that it was during the Lincoln-Douglas debate of 1858. Anyway, don’t be such an uptight prude.
Exactly