Code-X (16)
By:
June 26, 2014
Call this cultural category code: Sonorous Snark.
Definition: The deep, sonorous voices of (for example) actors Ted Knight, Seinfeld‘s John O’Hurley, and Phil Hartman have been used in a snarky way — to mock and reject the old-fashioned, macho, sometimes conservative values their characters promote.
Notes on this code: Certain beer campaigns — e.g., Bud Light’s “This is Matt,” Coors Light’s “Trucker,” “Subzero,” and others (which are in fact voiced by O’Hurley) — employ sonorous snark to express sarcasm towards idealized, over-the-top claims typical in the beer category. Typical, even, of their own brands’ previous campaigns.
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