Buy Or Don’t Buy

Whether it was by the hand of irony, post-irony or of ‘The New Sincerity,’ the term ‘guilty pleasure’ has been stripped of much of its meaning recently, to the extent that I can’t remember the last time I heard it used correctly. Too often will people use it when they really mean ‘lame thing I enjoy ironically’ or ‘popular trashy thing that everyone likes.’ I was starting to worry that true guilty pleasures no longer existed when, in a period of extended underemployment, I saw a commercial that allayed all my fears. Behold, a video so inappropriate to enjoy that I feel like I should alert my neighbors every time I watch it:

30 seconds of children dancing and talking about changing their clothes, while an adult voice tells them to “shake it.” Dear Lord.

But the animals are so cool and friendly! And the music is so catchy! You’re damn right I know all the words:

Baby let me show you how to do this

You got to move it

You’re doing fine!

Ain’t nothin’ to it

You got to move it

C’mon and groove it

Shake it! Shake it!

My head and my heart are at war because of Garanimals. There is no way this can end well.

[UPDATE: Five minutes ago I found the original song and am pleased to report its video is much less pederast-y:

Now I can relax!)