Has anyone out there seen this ridiculous commercial for “Forever Lazy” that advertises adult fleece pajamas made to keep you warm while you loaf in the house or even outside? I saw it this afternoon and really wondered about the future of Americans. Yeah, I know we already have the Snuggie but this just goes one step further and it is the ad and the way that people are portrayed that brings home the message that resting on your laurels and living the “lazy” way is the best method to dealing with the economy as it is today: by just throwing on your fleece PJs and tuning out the world.
The ad says that you can wear these pajamas rather than turn up the heat to save money. There are also clips of dad “doing what he does best,” sleeping on the couch. The fleece “one piece” looks like something a baby would wear, complete with a flap to go to the bathroom. Is this the future of adults in this country? A future where the populace spends their time sleeping and loafing at home rather than working, being infantalized by a nanny state government and wearing this contraption because they are too broke to afford heat and too lazy to fight back? That’s a depressing thought. Or maybe it is an ingenious way of “going John Galt?” Or maybe people are just cold. What do you think?
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I refer you to E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops,” the first promotional piece along these lines and cleverly done a century ago.
Disclosure: I am writing this from a protective cocoon deep beneath the Earth’s surface.
I think it’s just another in the endless string of television promos for unneeded products, designed to make money from people who can’t live without another unneeded product.
I dunno, Helen. Right now I’m wearing my usual around the house get-up: sweat pants, a hooded sweatshirt, and a teeshirt that equated duct tape to the Force. (I change the teeshirt regularly.)
Other than the annoying access aspect of the onesie, how different is that?
Listen, I can’t abide an outfit once called “Pajamas Media” railing against adult fleece pajamas.
You just hit tonight’s jackpot for comedy gold!
Clothing has little to do with the level of activity. I wear shorts and a t-shirt with sandals in warm weather. In cold weather I wear sweats. Working in the yard I wear jeans. Wear whatever you damn well please. I only dress up a little for church or dining out etc. Khakis and polos or sweaters. Just try not to look too ridiculous. Be as comfortable as possible. I never wear a suit unless it is required.
If you are trying to make your way in the world, dress for success, otherwise dress as you please.
I have to agree with Ron here. I wear whatever I feel is appropriate for what I’m doing. Since I retired about a year ago I have yet to wear a tie (donated them to my wife’s church) or even a button up shirt except for a flannel for warmth. Anyone who doesn’t approve of what I’m wearing can look the other direction.
I don’t think “Dad sleeping on the couch” means Americans are lazy. How people spend their off time is one thing. OWS protestors who think they should get a 75K job right out of college for being English majors are quite another.
Right now, heater oil prices are going very high. I’m not sure, since it’s low seventies here, but I do know the big Kennedy thing was giving heating oil to poor people. Not- insulation. Just oil, every year, more on voting years.
The British had abundant coal. They built sturdy houses. For drafts, they invented footstools, and wing chairs. They had gas lighting fairly quickly, as well. They also fostered a green revolution by writing about their farming techniques in inexpensive books, and magazines. This is pre-Victoria. Women could knit in the evenings, or work on their exquisite embroideries: these inexpensively prettied up everyone’s house. For some needlework, early Victoriana is the highpoint of a few thousand years practice. For knitting- socks, mittens, hats- at about the price we now pay for poorly fit acrylic imported from southeast asian misery pits. Finely wrought, museum-worthy knits, for regular people, people the knitter loved. Not- the queen and wealthy people buy the only luxuries. Regular people owned gorgeous things, regular women made exquisite, amazing, brag-worthy items.
The French did not have abundant, cheap coal. Their poor people dressed for the winter, then climbed in bed, all in a family, in the dark, in rags. They lost the productive evening hours- where grownups could read, and learn, and women could repair small bits of clothing, or knit new, warm socks. The British were productive, and thrifty, by being comparatively profligrate with lighting, heat and energy.
I’d like to point out that CFL’s render parts of our population ill. With the ban, migraineurs, people with eye difficulties, and people with epilepsy, will all be required to go to bed. They cannot hang out with their family, catch up on their knitting, or any other evening hobby, or focus on their small pleasures that fit best at the end of a day.
And, heating has become parlously expensive to the half-employed, as well as the fully unemployed. And gas. I already know people who have had to quit jobs- they could not afford their commute. Houses are wildly expensive, not easy to sell, so thus the commute.
It’s not a bad trick- sending America down a path that everyone sane recoils from: Pre-Revolutionary France.
I do believe, ari, that reminding people that energy is wealth is Bad Thought.
The term “fleece” is a misnomer. Historically, “fleece” implies a product derived of sheep’s wool. I’m pretty sure “Jason and the Golden Fleece” implied a naturally-derived product.
The modern stuff termed “fleece” is made of recycled milk jugs.
After a couple of wearings, it gets pilled and is very unattractive. I would like to shoot the marketing executive that came up with calling a fabric made from recycled plastic “fleece”.
Think of “fleece” as a verb when paired with “microfiber” or “polyester.” Now, it all makes sense.
Oh wait. It’s called “fleece” because most of the products made from it fleece the consumer out of his hard-earned money. Got it.
I wonder if you can buy one with your EBT card?
I thought the hatch was hilarious. So did my wife.
Note: There’s nothing that says you have to take everything seriously.
The Snuggie and its ilk are just one more example of how the Carter era has returned. They were all the rage in the high-energy-cost 70s, and they’re all the rage in the high-energy-cost 00s and 10s.
Hey at least it’s not a leisure suit.
Sometimes fleece pajamas are just fleece pajamas.
I think it’s silly to try and generalize about “America’s future” from what someone is trying to sell, and how they are trying to sell it. There are all sorts of ads trying to sell all sorts of things, including enlisting in the US Armed Forces … what does _that_ say about America’s future? I mean that in a completely positive way. How many of our young people have chosen to join the armed forces compared to the OWS movement?
14: An Average Ameracan asked:
“How many of our young people have chosen to join the armed forces compared to the OWS movement?”
Well, the armed forces offer pay, training, and benefits, and the chance of getting killed is a little less.
I never could figure out how you could leave the sofa and walk anywhere in the Snuggie. Looks like the Forever Lazy solved that problem, but the name does scream: “do nothing”.
I am very concerned about the CFLs. Ari’s comment regarding CFLs and migraneurs troubles me. I’ve had chronic migraine since 2010 (15 or more occurences per month) and the things I do to avoid triggering one could be considered obsessive (and you never can be sure whether ANYTHING you do or don’t do, eat or don’t eat is beneficial – with the exception of steering clear of flashing lights and those who bathe in perfume).
I’ll begin some serious stocking up of regular light bulbs tomorrow. Do you think the Administration will give me a medical waiver for light bulbs like they did 1,800 of their closest donor cronies under Obamacare?
I can just see you trying to get a waiver from the medical board so you can have a prescription from your doctor to get incandescent light bulbs from your pharmacy. The co-pay would be $15 or so, depending on your plan, EACH!
Still, a $15 co-pay isn’t too bad when the doc’s prescription is for 10 of ‘em at a time.
Did you donate to his Oneness’ reelection campaign? The answer to this question is the same as the answer to your question.
As to the oil problem:Unfortunately, the eco-concerned just don’t get it yet, I’d say. So, I’m going to drastically overpay again this winter. Thank you, ecos.
These type of pajamas have existed since the 1800s. Unless we’ve been lazy for the past 200 years, this article is wrong to judge our society based on this crappy infomercial.
Sounds like fine apparel for telecommuters.
On the other hand, until recently the citizens of Shanghai were famous for going about their daily life wearing pajamas.
http://boingboing.net/2009/11/03/china-crackdown-on-p.html
My Dad takes lots of naps. He drove a semi for nearly 30 years, worked on the family farm, held other jobs before that. I think he’s earned them.
(Except last summer, when his “naps” occasionally involved his heart stopping. THAT’S NOT ALLOWED!)
As for cold — could be. Energy prices are up, as per President Failure’s policies, and people could be turning down the thermostat.
Robert Heinlein wrote a great story called “The Man who was too Lazy to Fail”. It is in the book “Time enough for Love”
The moral of the story is that “all progress is made by a lazy man looking for an easier way”
I am a big believer in laziness as a way to improve productivity. My business is helping manufacturers improve productivity and I have big yellow buttons that I pass out to everyone from the floor operators to the plant manager. The button says “Be Lazy” and “find an easier way”
I wrote about it in my Food & Beverage Packaging magazine column here
http://www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com/Articles/Feature_Articles/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000673343
Be lazy. It is the reason America has been successful in the past. It is the reason we will be successful in the future. Laziness = more productivity
john Henry
http://www.changeover.com
Larry’s First Law is “Laziness is the foundation of efficiency.”
Give a job to a lazy man and he’ll find the easiest, fastest and simplest way to get it done right the first time because anything else is more work. That’s the very definition of doing the job more efficiently.
Of course, “an action transferred (to someone else) is an action completed” as we used to say in the Air Force.
Yeah, I agree, CFL with ari. CFL’s are ugly AND are hazmat according to the Post Policies here at Fort Bliss. Unlike regular bulbs, you have to set them aside so that you don’t let the heavy metals get into the regular trash.
This “forever lazy” junk is just a business seeing which way the wind’s blowing. Liberals and their fellow travelers in the MSM have been selling the idea that physical labor is for chumps and that you can lounger around all day. While snacking on junk food (made with corn syrup grown with govm’ent subsidies). Watching the MSM’s programs on your flatscreen tv (that you have a “right” to).
Of course you get fat and unemployable because a job or a real major is like, hard work.
Any friend, relative or child who buys or wants this..thing..should be sat down and forced to watch “Full Metal Jacket” or “Patton” with the thermostat turned down, in the middle of winter ( or the A/C off during the summer).
As you take the “forever lazy”, soak it in gas and burn it.
“What do you think?”
Lighten up?
The future is here. Have you been out in public lately and seen the way adults dress?
My take when I saw the ad on TV: here we go, the perfect outfit for the new Eloi.
Do you suppose the OWS crowd realize they could be the prototypes for the Eloi? Does that make us the Morlocks? Eeewww. Hmm. Second thought, it’s not cannibalism if you eat other species is it? Jules Verne clearly equated “people” with the Eloi, but he was prejudiced because they are pretty and the Morlocks are not.
H.G. Wells authored The Time Machine.
Perfect for working at my home office. Now you know why video conferencing isn’t catching on with the “work-from-home” crowd, despite the explosion of online meetings.
Zip IT and Get Lazy! As a connoisseur of infomercials, this is one of the funniest out there. Do not take these things too seriously, The infomercials are produced by talentless Madison Avenue wannabes and never really successfully market to a large audience.
I type this as I sit here in my flannel PJs. What’s the difference?
We are going to need them if Obama is re-elected and he gets to finish shutting down all useful forms of energy production.
How is this different from the Union Suit? Cowboys wore them all the time. Complete with a buttflap.
Oh.My.God. New from RONCO, it’s the Forever Lazy Depends. Now you don’t need to worry about those pesky trips to the bathroom during commercial breaks of ‘The View.’ Now there’s the Forever Lazy Depends, keeping you snuggy, warm, and dry all at the same time. Just put a fresh set of, you know, in your Forever Lazy every day and you’ll be good for the whole day. Want to REALLY be Forever Lazy, just DEPEND on us.
I hereby predict that the Forever Lazy will not succeed as a product, just because of its awful name. I agree with RebeccaH about it being merely another instance in a long stream of unnecessary products. I’m seeing the “Thneed” from “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss in my mind’s eye.
Now, a PJ Media Snuggie, that’s entirely different! Different. Entirely.
A better indicator of laziness is seeing teen and young adult girls at the store or some other place (like the laundromat) in their jammies.
I LIKE young adult women in jammies. Oh wait. Did I say that out loud? Oops.
But the Morlocks feed and clothe us. If they give us fleece pajamas, we should be grateful. Oh, look, lunch has appeared!
I think it’s just a dumb advertisement for an equally ridiculous product. Advertising doesn’t have to speak for a generation — it just speaks for those doing the advertising and what they THINK of a generation.