On February 7th, 2014, the coffee shop “Dumb Starbucks” opened its doors to LA coffee enthusiasts, who waited in line for hours to be served by a staff of “dumb baristas”. The shop is a complete replica of a traditional Starbucks, but with the word “dumb” placed in front of everything. You can order a “Dumb Venti Americano”, pick up a “Dumb Nora Jones Duets” CD, and even drink from a traditional Starbucks cup with “dumb” cropped into the classic green mermaid logo. The whole thing was created by comedian Nathan Fielder as an elaborate prank to parodize coffee culture. Nathan appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live later in the week to try and explain the success of Dumb Starbucks, claiming “I think a lot of americans maybe lost hope that innovation in business was gone, and I think people saw; ‘wow’ there’s a whole new way of doing things now” and that “it kind of allowed people to dream again, in a way”. But this isn’t Nathan’s first hoax, he has his own television show on Comedy Central called “Nathan For You” where he sets out to consult struggling small businesses by solving their problems with similar unconventional solutions. Nathan’s humor is derived from witty satirical writing backed by a flawless deadpan delivery, and he uses both high and low comedy to appeal to a wide audience.
Almost all of Nathan’s work parodies pop culture norms or television shows. One of his sketches titled “Who’s Tallest Canada” makes fun of popular talent competition shows like “America’s Got Talent” by creating a dramatic spin off that pits contestants against one another to see who is the tallest. From the very beginning, it is extremely obvious who the tallest contestant is; as one contestant is a lightly tall man and the other a midget. This ridiculo...
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...en seriously for a change. But that is a form of hubris any master ruseman should be prepared to face.
Works Cited
Fielder, Nathan. “Ronald Shoub.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 4 Dec. 2010. Web. 13 Feb 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn6C4fDEOV8&list=UUIdVOofoUN2rWQPLHX6xmJw Fielder, Nathan. “Top Chef - Season 4 Ep 7 (part 3 of 4).” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 2 Jul. 2009. Web. 13 Feb 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuBO-32jK2A&list=UUIdVOofoUN2rWQPLHX6xmJw Fielder, Nathan. “Who’s Tallest Canada.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8g9A7pBqg&list=UUIdVOofoUN2rWQPLHX6xmJw Jimmy Kimmel Live. “Dumb Starbucks Founder Nathan Fielder on Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Feb 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MJWz3w5ZQc
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Starbucks and other companies have found a new way to add economic value, and what they are selling is emotion and a feeling of belonging. Companies have now stopped trying to sell just their products, they are now making you feel good about buying their product. Bill Silver uses the example of the blueberry muffin. If you buy the blueberry muffin, then you get to eat a tasty pastry. But if you don’t buy a muffin, you still feel good about yourself because you resisted urge of buying that blueberry that would have costed you money and make you not as
Most people will not recognize the name Stella Liebeck but say the words “hot coffee lawsuit” and recognition will be instant. The story is almost so well known that it has almost passed into the realm of urban legend or myth. And in the broad strokes it has become a bit of a myth. An old woman drives through a McDonald’s drive through, orders a cup of coffee and then promptly and recklessly spills the beverage all over her legs. Then in search of an easy payday she sues the restaurant for millions of dollars, ultimately walking away a millionaire with no more damage than a ruined pair of sweatpants. The story has been held up as a parable for what is wrong with America today. The well-worn story can be held up to serve as a totem pole for any number of issues. People don’t want to work for money anymore, just look at that hot coffee lady. People don’t want to take responsibility for their actions, just look at that hot coffee lady. People are idiots, look at that coffee lady. As it turns out, the “coffee lady” is a good story for examining the world we live in today, but not for the reasons that might be expected.
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
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Fish’s depiction of the process of buying a coffee now is an unfair stereotype, as not everyone has experienced what he describes. For example Fish states, “if you are patient and stay in line (no bathroom breaks), you get to put in your order,” (Fish). The bathroom comment was quite unnecessary because nobody gets bathroom breaks for long lines. This quote by Fish was illogical for his argument. Fish continues, stating that when one receives a coffee, the “real problem” is how the coffee accessories are placed. There are too many of them, Fish believes, and the order is random. This is not true for most coffee shops. Typically in coffee shops, the dairy is together, the sugars are neatly piled, the straws and napkins are stacked tidily. Of course, there are coffee shops now that are how Fish described. However, he only describes a percentage of coffee shops, not all of them. Fish should have made that clear in his argument. To continue, Fish writes about people fighting over the accessories and balancing coffee in one hand. This comment is almost theatrical in its description. The scene Fish depicts is rarely seen at coffee shops. Fish’s argument does not represent a realistic representation of all coffee shops. Fish does not state this, therefore being unreliable in his
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For one of my selections for buying stock, I invested into Starbucks, this company has attracted me with their wonders of different coffees, and I knew many others were interested in the very popular coffee company. Starbucks all started 1971 in Seattle Washington. With three men which were Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel and Gordon Bowker each of them put in one thousand three hundred and fifty dollars along with a barrowed five thousand from the bank to start up there small coffee shop in pick place market, witch is located in down town Seattle. The name for this company was inspired from the character Starbuck from Moby Dick; this character was a coffee lover. There close friend designed there well known logo. These men never thought of this small company to get large they just thought of it as a small coffee shop. Out of all three men Siegel was the only one that work at it full time. The men depened on a man named Alfred Peet for there coffee beans but soon then started there own blends of coffee beans. With in a year opening the first store they were able to open a second store. When the 1980’s rolled around, it was a thriving company, in the Seattle area. However, the co-founders began to have other interests and were involved in other careers simultaneously. Despite that, the company was about to undergo a major turning point. A man by the name of Howard Schultz started to pursue an interest in the company. He noticed that the coffee shop had a wonderful environment. He started asking a questions and becoming more and more interested by every moment. He loved how the founders had so much knowledge on the coffee and each blend. In 1982, Schultz became director of retail operation. This was just the start to a new phase with the company.
Clifford, S. (2009). Video prank at Domino’s taints brand. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html