Mad Mag Reacts To Circuit City Ban
MAD magazine's editor responded to the Circuit City "search and destroy" kerfluffle thusly:
"We at MAD were shocked and confused by this entire incident — mainly because we had no idea that Circuit City even sells magazines. Nonetheless, we accept their apology but hold out hope that their gesture of a $20 gift card is only an opening offer."
Har hars all around, yolks.
Circuit City Rethinks MAD Magazine Ban, Apologizes [Newsarama]
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Comments:
They did it for publicity, pure and simple. Think about it,
When is the last time you cared about that Mag, when Spy vs Spy came out for NES?
Seriously.
Actually, the PR flak's response shows that even corporate types have a sense of humor:
"As a gesture of our apology and deep respect for the folks at MAD Magazine, we are creating a cross-departmental task force to study the importance of humor in the corporate workplace and expect the resulting PowerPoint presentation to top out at least 300 pages, chock full of charts, graphs and company action plans. In addition, I have offered to send the MAD Magazine editor a $20 Circuit City gift card toward the purchase of a Nintendo Wii....if he can find one!"
Alas...he did not say if they were "taking it seriously".
Frankly, I am shocked and confused by the fact that "MAD Magazine" is still being published at all. :-/
It's actually a $20,000 gift card, but when you fold both ends together towards the center...
I have very fond memories of Mad and I still assume that the offices of Mad Magazine were accurately depicted during the Simpsons' visit to NYC.
Recycled and formulaic parodies. Trite. Hackneyed. Pathetically predictable. Have not had a funny issue since the Reagan Administration. And I am being generous
@Carso: Yeah, right. Hell, Cracked stopped making magazines and does online publication instead. Hell, they just made a post on how much better they are than MAD:
Kinda like Saturday Night Live - advertising and politicians have become so reflective of the cynicism and parody these outlets used to present that they seem trite. It's all played out, but it was a damn good run.
Will new ways of telling the emperors they have no clothes develop and effectively make the point again? God knows we need 'em more than ever.
Yeah, but the restrictions on the Circuit City gift card are such that the only thing they'd likely be able to buy with it are copies of Mad Magazine...
I am surprised we haven't had a "What? Me Worry?" joke yet... Well, What? Me Worry? ... only if you bought anything from circuit city or a mortgage from countrywide.
"We are taking this frivolously"?
@xAnarChisTx: Just because one brags about how one is better doesn't make it true.
Come on Mad Mag, diss Best Buy. At least THEY sell magazines at checkout.
Why are people so surprised that Mad Magazine still exists? I see a lot of "I stopped reading that years ago." Perhaps it's because you're not the target demographic? We read it as teens, and then move on to something else.
It's right up there with the 'who would anyone shop at store X". Because they like to? Because they aren't rich enough to jet to better stores? Because it's in their locale?
Yea I didn't know Circuit City sold no computer/ electronic type mags until I read this. Gotta laugh at Mad Mags responce to it though.
I wished I had kept all of my MAD mags from when I was a young 'un. At least the ones the nuns didn't confiscate; they'd be worth a lot right now.
@xAnarChisTx: Yea, but you can't read Cracked online at summer camp, under the covers with a flashlight.
Mad Mag has been poking a sophomoric finger into the eyes of establishment types for years... What has changed is that a floppy-soled nitwit stepped out of a clown car in CC's employee parking lot and thought taking Mad Mag seriously was a Good Ideaâ„¢.
Cynical prediction: Mad Mag will try harder to upset more corporate bozos.
Wishful thinking: Mad Mag might therefore become as genuinely entertaining as it seemed to me when I a teenager!
@MrTibbs: Nice!
@catskyfire: I'm waiting for someone to say that Mad Magazine tastes like cardboard and that we should all be making our mags from scratch with stuff grown in our own garden.
I liked one of the comments on Newsarama:
"I wasn't aware that Circuit city sold magazines. I also was not aware that Mad magazine was still published."
@catskyfire: so true. Mad is really geared to a younger audience. Having said that, Mad does have a Mad Kids which is geared for really young kids. I've still got my Mad Mag subscription, it makes great bathroom reading, and Mad has gotten a little more grown up humor since Mad Kids came out. So the demographic adults alike.
As much as I'd like to take my laptop for a #2 I'd still rather have the company of my Mad mag!
';
Theres a thing where you are wrong. Cracked magazine is terrible. Completely unfunny. Mad is hilarious, maybe you wish you could afford the 16 dollars a year to subscribe.
@Jandek: Eh, not really. You see, MAD, to me, is shit. I liked Cracked magazine a lot, and found it quite funny. Never wanted a subscription, though, just bought one whenever I was at the supermarket and saw it on the rack.
And you are right. I guess I couldn't afford a subscription to MAD Magazine, seeing how I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, PC Gamer, GamePro, and Sega Channel at the time. Silly me.
ROFL
Now that's a good comeback. $20 gift card...well they better use it soon before CC folds lol (jk)
That was a great comeback!
Not surprised that they didn't know CC even sold the magazine...magazines in every store are usually handled by an outside company (same with non-book stores that stock books and stuff of that nature)
The best explanation of the pure Fail of MAD Magazine comes from the Simpsons:
Bart: "My God! The Mad Magazine Special Edition. They only put out seventeen of these a year."
Milhouse: "Boy! They're really sockin' it to that Spiro Agnew guy again! He must work there or something."
@catskyfire: Well said. It seems some people on this board are actually angry in their comments about Mad. The fact is, if you're reading the Consumerist, you've already left Mad's target demographic.
What next? I don't find Bugs Bunny funny anymore either. Should we start bashing that as well?
Ahhh the 70's. My misspent youth with recreational herbs, reading MAD and National Lampoon. How I miss it so...
Well played Mad Mag...