Heart and Mind

Deliberately Deceptive Advertisement

I have long been a huge fan of the classic Tom & Jerry cartoon series from MGM studios. Everyone knows about the cat and mouse duo. The MGM Tom and Jerry, created by Hanna Barbera, were introduced in the 1940 short "Puss Gets the Boot" (in which the cat is actually called "Jasper"). From 1940 thru 1958 the cartoon initially ran. (It was resurrected in the 1960s in a different style, and has also been redone in different varieties since then.)

What you may not know is that the well-known Tom and Jerry were not first cartoon duo to use that name. The first (other) "Tom and Jerry" cartoons were silent films; there were two of them made in 1923 by the Arrow Film Corporation. That's a really obscure cartoon and I don't know much about it. A slightly better-known (but not by much) cartoon was a series of 26 black & white shorts made by Van Beuren from 1931 through 1933. This cartoon, which will be the "Tom and Jerry" discussed in this blog) feature two human characters (one tall, one stout).

Well, being a fan of the well-known Tom and Jerry, I always had heard and read about the Van Beuren cartoons, although I had only seen still pictures (such as the one to the left) and not the animated cartoons. Well, last year I was shopping when I came across a DVD of the show and it cost all of one dollar. For a buck, I figured I'd pick it up just to see what the show was like. Well, not surprisingly, the style of the humor is very dated and it's not much to my taste. But I am quite fascinated by the descriptive copy on the back of the package, because I am reasonably certain that it was written in such a way as to deceive potential (& stupid) buyers into thinking they are buying the popular MGM Tom & Jerry. (I say "stupid" because the picture on the front of the two guys should be a clear indication that this isn't "the" Tom and Jerry.) But, consider how they (erroneously) describe the contents of the DVD:

"DVD VIDEO IN COLOR"

Um...no. It's in black and white.

"Two of the most popular cartoon creations are together again in this one-of-a-kind collection of their most fun-filled escapades."

OK, here's another problem. Neither this Tom nor this Jerry could even remotely be considered one of "the most popular cartoon creations." Bugs Bunny is. Woody Woodpecker I could live with. But no one has ever heard of these guys except for devoted cartoon fans who would be familiar with early depression-era shorts. These guys are not popular. That would be a description better suited for...oh, MGM's Tom and Jerry?

"Poor Tom is always going up against the wise Jerry..."

Um....WRONG! In the shorts I've watched, Tom is not any "poorer" than Jerry, who, in turn, doesn't strike anyone as particularly "wise." And, more importantly, they are not adversaries, so they are not "going up against" each other. Again, these are lies. I would say, though, that the description would be quite well suited for...oh, MGM's Tom and Jerry?

Here's the clincher:

"...in their cat-and-mouse games."

OK...if the hadn't tipped their hand quite yet, they just did. "Cat-and-mouse games?" No one is chasing each other around in these shorts. There is no back and forth between the two characters. Funny, though...the MGM Tom and Jerry are a cat and mouse. And they seem to indulge in "cat and mouse games."


"You'll enjoy these hilarious shorts over and over again."

Sorry...they're just not that hilarious. I can't really sit through them once, in fact.

Well, it just amazes me that the DVD company would try to be so deceptive. I think I will form a band 4-piece band called the Beatles, give the members new pseudonyms, and release an album of my songs with this press release: "Never before heard Beatles recordings! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! John, Paul, George, & Ringo are back with a new collection that is truly fab!"

posted by Steve @ 9:37 AM