[Adam Hart] Because every time I see a joke ad with a mascot being tackled by old-fashioned asylum attendants, I think “that’s exactly how mental patients must act — GET ‘EM!”
Sigh. It appears this ad is “blatantly offensive,” according to Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of Arlington-based National Alliance on Mental Illness. This, despite the woman in the ad telling the attendants that they are in fact “nuts” for not appreciating King’s zest for low-priced hamburgers.
Is it that the ad never pinpoints a specific type of mental health disorder — “Stop that King, he’s crazy!” and “this King’s insane”? Would “Stop that King, he’s paranoid schizophrenic!” or “this King’s got brief psychotic disorder” have smoothed things over? …Actually, no. That probably wouldn’t made it worse.
