Frosty the Snowman

	“	Heartbreaking.... It's simply heartbreaking what has happened to our once great American culture. This is part of the reason Islamic extremists want to kill us. They don't want this filth from the west infiltrating into their culture.	„
	—Frosty protects us from the terrorists!

What's funnier than somebody doing something really stupid?

Probably somebody doing something stupid and then having the whole world react like a bunch of morons on top of it all. Confused? Bear with ED here for a minute and all shall be explained while we attempt to show you how Frosty can be an Inappropriate Snowman.

History

Frosty finds out he has been besmirched.

In early December of 2009, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) decided it would be a great idea to engage in an advertisement campaign that was similar to the “mashup” movement that can be found on various video hosting sites on the internet. It went pretty much like this: “Maybe we could pick a clip from one of our prime time shows... and a clip from Frosty the Snowman... and then mash them up together, then use the resulting clip to advertise BOTH shows! PURE GENIUS!!!"

From a business standpoint, the idea was actually rather good. The network could get twice the advertising in half the time, give its viewers a quick laugh, and make sure that Frosty the Snowman would not be forgotten by the average viewer who always forgets to DVR all the good Christmas specials. Things were going great right up until the point where they decided to mash up Frosty with Barney from the (slightly sleazy) hit show “How I Met Your Mother.”

Anybody with a passing familiarity with the show knows that Barney is a promiscuous, womanizing, cheating, corrupting sewer rat who has absolutely no conscience whatsoever when it comes to achieving money or pleasure. Played excellently by Neil Patrick Harris, Barney’s voice-over of some of the original Frosty cartoon artwork elicited huge amounts of internet rage within seconds of the advertisements being aired. Viewers immediately got on the series of tubes and vehemently began to express butthurt, loathing, and even cries for the destruction of CBS… all during a holiday season whose main purpose is to openly express "good will toward all men". However, we all know that intertubes butthurt is generally rather humorous to the netizens who frequent ED, so many lulz were had.

CBS wasn’t paying any attention to any of this rage and went ahead with their plan to release more of the commercials, most notably a mash up of “Two and a Half Men” and Frosty yet again... this time using the voice-over of Charlie Sheen, yet another over-sexed ne’er-do-well malcontent within the CBS stable of hit shows. What could possibly go wrong?!

Reaction

The cast of How I Met Your Mother. The bad person is on the far right...yuck.

More cretins, only this time, the bad guys even have a kid around to infect with their brand of sleaze.

	“	CBS - do you NOT even have the creativity to come up with your own unique commercial. You have to use a children's beloved Christmas character and turn him into a loser - like the losers in your sitcoms.	„
	—This is inappropriate pure and simple!

As stated above, the reaction was swift and fierce. In a world where most 8-year-olds have the ability to utilize Google, parents were breathless in their diatribes against CBS and the disgraceful content of their insidious advertisements. How could CBS ruin such a staple of the holiday season? How could CBS besmirch the good name of honest and jolly Frosty? Surely, this year’s Christmas was going to be just that much less joyous because of the shameful way CBS had abused the Christmas icon.

Reaction Quotes

“   Bye, bye, CBS. Apparently, you do not want me as a viewer. You are disgusting and not fit to watch.   „     —Im4hm does not want.     “   I lost respect and interest in ABC, NBC, and CBS years ago. This is disgusting. Porn hurts families. It broke up my marriage, and it seems to be used so casually now, for comic effect. Porn is an addiction that hurts and degrades men and women, and for a beloved cartoon character to be talking about it to children is absolutely disgraceful.   „     —It couldn’t be that you are fat, ugly, and in front of the television all the time, moralizing about stupid stuff?     “   This isn't even "low brow', this is as sleezy as putting lovable cartoon charcters on cigarette packages (or acid tabs).   „     — That acid thing happened in 1973 didn't even fucking happen [1]     “   I find this half way funny, It doesn't bother me but it looks like the JUDGMENTAL BIBLE NAZI'S are out for blood on this one.   „     —The Nazis were atheists     “   No shit! This is front page news on Fox news. Not that I am a fox news follower. I just go to their site so I can see just how senile and stupid old people can be. I read for a little bit, then I go into the bathroom and blow diarrhea into the toilet.   „     —Good to know…     “   What is sad that is there is only 24 comments here, proof that no one cares...   „     —Wait until ED gets a hold of it!     “   This is inappropriate pure and simple. If you are going to be tacky, then use your own 'characters' - leave the sanctity of children and Christmas characters out of it. It's a disgrace!!   „     —Where was Frosty mentioned in the Bible? Was that in Leviticus or Revelations?     “   just as they have the right to create this parody, others have the same free right to blast it if they want. You seem to be one of those people not happy that we have the freedom to complain. mmmmmmm.......funny huh.   „     —There’s always one First Amendment white knight involved in these threads.     “   SICK!!!!..u just put your self in Jail...copy right needs to look at this and the FCC..who ever did this needs jail time.   „     —Isn’t this like filing suit against yourself? Oh, and read up on parodies, dumbass.     “   What PINHEAD at CBS came up with this! How dare you! Oh and I hope whoever did come up with this cretinous c**p knows it will featured in a story on Bill O'Reilly tonight..hence the "pinhead" part. Granted it makes the point,but it could have been done more tastefully and besides,I'll be watching Fox News while How I Met Your Mother is on that night anyway...   „     —Bill O’Reilly will save us! Also, make sure you censor your bad words…like “crap”.     “   WTF. What asshole at CBS made this up? I agree, it's all shock value. I don't see anything funny about mashing up a classic kids Christmas cartoon with inappropriate content. Haha. Frosty is saying inappropriate things. How old are these people who made this? 12? This is immature and stupid without actually being funny.   „     —The same 12 year olds who write YouTube comments. Previous Quote | Next Quote

Irony?

Gay Womanizer

	“	Rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life	„
	—Neil, talking candidly about his faggotry to People Magazine in 2006

Many of the comments directed at the ad campaign focus on Neil Patrick Harris’s character “Barney” being an inhuman womanizer, and those comments seem to confuse the actor with the character he plays. The buzz talk goes something like this: “That Neil Patrick Harris…he used to be so cute and so nice on that Doogie Howser show…why is he such a lecherous lothario on this new show of his?”

While this might be funny in and of itself, as fat, older Americans wish that their childhood stars could stay children forever, the real humor of the whole thing is the fact that Neil Patrick Harris is an openly gay actor who has never had any qualms about outing himself in the public.

Video

The advertisement for How I Met Your Mother.

Curse YOU Neil Patrick Harris!

The original song, in case you are feeling nostalgic.

Previous Video | Next Video

External Information

This is not the first time Frosty has been abused.

• Fox News is first on the scene.
• Bloggers gone wild.
• It's hard to imagine CBS doing something cool...
• Trending up because everybody is butthurt.

See Also

• Television
• Christmas
• Children
• Old media
• Faux News

Frosty the Snowman is part of a series on Television Visit the Television Portal for complete coverage.

Featured article December 25, 2009
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Featured article May 25, 2011
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