Theme 90: Treasure
Title: Target Audience
Universe: DCAU-kinda
Genre: Drama
Characters: A typically unfortunate Gotham ten year old boy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500
Summary: Advertising that works in most places might not be ideally suited to Gotham...
***
Target Audience
Amid a flurry of expensive advertising tied-in to the most popular kids TV programs, a new fast food restaurant hit Gotham’s streets. It offered a garish circus-themed appearance, cheap burgers, and a collection of gimmicky must-have toys with its kids meals. Its target audience was abundantly clear.
“Mom, can we go to Laffy Burger? Pleeeeease?”
“No.”
To Jeremy Sullivan, and hordes of other pre-teen children across the city, the word ‘no’ was just a challenge.
“Please, Mom!”
“No.”
“Pleeeeeease?”
“I said no.”
“But Mom, everyone else in my class gets to go - they’ve all got toys, and Daniel’s got the whole set! You’re so unfair.”
Jeremy’s mother, a paediatrician, was a little more firm in her convictions than many parents.
“You know I don’t like you eating that horrible processed food. When ‘everyone else’ in the class gets type two diabetes and their legs fall off you’ll be grateful for these home-cooked meals with plenty of leafy vegetables.”
When begging and whining didn’t work, Jeremy knew it was time for drastic action if he didn’t want to be the only kid in the fourth grade without one of the coveted Laffy Burger toys. While his mother was distracted by Sunday afternoon of paperwork, he ‘borrowed’ $20 from her purse and snuck out. The nearest Laffy Burger was just five blocks away - he could make it there and back before she even realised he was gone.
Ten minutes later Jeremy clutched his prize to his chest as he practically ran out of the restaurant before tearing open the colourful kids meal box and falling on the sweet, forbidden greasy taste of a fast food burger and fries. His Mom was crazy to think that meatloaf and broccoli was better than this.
As he finished off a few stray French fries Jeremy fiddled with the creepy-looking plastic clown toy, wondering whether it shot foam missiles from its eyes or transformed somehow. It didn’t seem to do anything fun, and he felt momentarily let down. There was a treasure map game on the back of the torn box, and Jeremy used a quarter to scratch off a few guesses at where the treasure was buried but all the answers seemed to be weird skull-like clown faces, so he wiped his hands on his jeans and threw the wrappers in the garbage before setting off for home where his Mom was blissfully unaware of his afternoon fast food binge.
The next day Jeremy was sent home from school with flu-like symptoms, and as the week went on thousands more children across Gotham became ill. It wasn’t until the Laffy Burger adverts were replaced by unofficial “sponsorship” messages that the authorities became aware that the epidemic was actually a massing poisoning by the Joker who, it turned out, wasn’t too pleased with fast food companies “cashing in” on anything to do with clowns.
Laffy Burger left Gotham under a cloud of lawsuits.
Once he was out of hospital Jeremy swore off fast food for life.
Fin
***
End note: I'll confess it's another one where the theme was somewhat shoe-horned in by last minute force due to lack of sensible plot ideas... I should really stop writing about food last thing at night because I could now kill for a burger, even a poisoned one!
Universe: DCAU-kinda
Genre: Drama
Characters: A typically unfortunate Gotham ten year old boy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500
Summary: Advertising that works in most places might not be ideally suited to Gotham...
***
Target Audience
Amid a flurry of expensive advertising tied-in to the most popular kids TV programs, a new fast food restaurant hit Gotham’s streets. It offered a garish circus-themed appearance, cheap burgers, and a collection of gimmicky must-have toys with its kids meals. Its target audience was abundantly clear.
“Mom, can we go to Laffy Burger? Pleeeeease?”
“No.”
To Jeremy Sullivan, and hordes of other pre-teen children across the city, the word ‘no’ was just a challenge.
“Please, Mom!”
“No.”
“Pleeeeeease?”
“I said no.”
“But Mom, everyone else in my class gets to go - they’ve all got toys, and Daniel’s got the whole set! You’re so unfair.”
Jeremy’s mother, a paediatrician, was a little more firm in her convictions than many parents.
“You know I don’t like you eating that horrible processed food. When ‘everyone else’ in the class gets type two diabetes and their legs fall off you’ll be grateful for these home-cooked meals with plenty of leafy vegetables.”
When begging and whining didn’t work, Jeremy knew it was time for drastic action if he didn’t want to be the only kid in the fourth grade without one of the coveted Laffy Burger toys. While his mother was distracted by Sunday afternoon of paperwork, he ‘borrowed’ $20 from her purse and snuck out. The nearest Laffy Burger was just five blocks away - he could make it there and back before she even realised he was gone.
Ten minutes later Jeremy clutched his prize to his chest as he practically ran out of the restaurant before tearing open the colourful kids meal box and falling on the sweet, forbidden greasy taste of a fast food burger and fries. His Mom was crazy to think that meatloaf and broccoli was better than this.
As he finished off a few stray French fries Jeremy fiddled with the creepy-looking plastic clown toy, wondering whether it shot foam missiles from its eyes or transformed somehow. It didn’t seem to do anything fun, and he felt momentarily let down. There was a treasure map game on the back of the torn box, and Jeremy used a quarter to scratch off a few guesses at where the treasure was buried but all the answers seemed to be weird skull-like clown faces, so he wiped his hands on his jeans and threw the wrappers in the garbage before setting off for home where his Mom was blissfully unaware of his afternoon fast food binge.
The next day Jeremy was sent home from school with flu-like symptoms, and as the week went on thousands more children across Gotham became ill. It wasn’t until the Laffy Burger adverts were replaced by unofficial “sponsorship” messages that the authorities became aware that the epidemic was actually a massing poisoning by the Joker who, it turned out, wasn’t too pleased with fast food companies “cashing in” on anything to do with clowns.
Laffy Burger left Gotham under a cloud of lawsuits.
Once he was out of hospital Jeremy swore off fast food for life.
Fin
***
End note: I'll confess it's another one where the theme was somewhat shoe-horned in by last minute force due to lack of sensible plot ideas... I should really stop writing about food last thing at night because I could now kill for a burger, even a poisoned one!