the singing fish

McDonald’s is running a TV commercial for its fillet of fish sandwich that shows a frumpy guy sitting in what looks like a messy garage. On the wall is a mounted rubber fish. As the guy starts eating his McDonald’s sandwich, the fish starts moving and singing, bending itself forward so that its head comes away from the wall plaque where it is mounted. In the commercial’s background is catchy beat music, with the fish singing---mouth open, mouth closed, mouth open, mouth closed---about the sandwich the guy is eating.

I’m not sure what the fish is singing, but I think it’s “Give me back that fillet o’ fish, give me that fish!” It keeps repeating itself throughout the commercial as another guy comes into the garage and exchanges glances with the first guy. All the while the music is playing and the fish is singing. That's all there is to the commercial, which basically ends with "Buy a McDonald's sandwich now."

I would dismiss the commercial if it weren’t for the fact that I was driving home one night after a poker game and a guy on the radio was saying how much he loved that commercial. He said he couldn’t get the catchy jingle out of his head, and he kept punctuating his talk by singing the fish’s line: “Give me back that fillet o’ fish, give me that fish!” It made me want to see the commercial again.

Here it is days later and I’ve since seen the commercial on TV and now I can’t get it out of my head: “Give me back that fillet o’ fish, give me that fish!” I took the bait and now I've been hooked. I haven't been to McDonald's yet, but I'm sure I will, probably to buy one of those fish sandwiches. That, my friends, is effective advertising.