Celebrity Press Release (9/20/19) New Ad Campaign: 'Wonder Awaits"

[omeinv]

I read the lyrics to the song.  Every word references "Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.  Now, I'm not oblivious to the time in which it was written, and was popular.  However, there is nothing in the song that is inherently referencing illegal drug use.  Like many songs that people associate that way, it is the listener's perception.  In this case, it seems clear that Celebrity is looking for the "Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland" fantasy world that Eden is supposed to evoke.  I've not yet sailed on Edge, so some (OK most) of this is lost on me. 

 

However, it's a HUGE leap to conclude that Celebrity is somehow espousing the use of illegal drugs.  However, if this commercial makes someone so uncomfortable they don't want to cruise Celebrity, that's what I would recommend.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

White Rabbit

Jefferson Airplane

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick

White Rabbit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Edited September 26, 2019 by omeinv

[hcat]

I always loved the Over the Rainbow Song by Iz ...played forever  on and by  X until they abandoned it,.......It captured the mood of cruising!

[Fouremco]

35 minutes ago, Silvery Seas Cruiser said:

I just Googled the song and learned Grace Slick wrote the song after an acid trip, as the psychedelic  result of taking LSD was called. She saw the resemblance of the altered state to what was described in Alice in Wonderland. 

For Slick, her song was about following your curiosity, just as Alice followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. In Celebrity's words, Wonder Awaits. 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Has anyone here considered that just perhaps Celebrity is trying to reach the demographic that remembers that song and loved it??  All of those people are now retired and looking to cruise...we hope.  I don’t think drugs came into that equation.  

BTW...White Rabbit was a great song and everyone in my age group loved it and it became an anthem for our generation.  BTW...we were doing a lot more drinking than drug taking in that era...lol.

[hcat]

 

google for the amazing  music  of Iz and  the beautiful lyrics of Over the Rainbow   (Copyrighted)  

 

Seems someone at X or their ad company is into  an odd retro  hippie trip...

If  the current EDEN stuff is any example, it will have a limited run.

 

Anyone remember the Marco Polo ad campaign? ...uh huh!

[hcat]

Try this link...(  cc edit feature not working for mr so I could not add it above???)

 

 

[vtcruising]

One thing that I learned on our Flower Power cruises was that often the meaning of the songs that many of us love and belt out when they are being played is much darker than we know. On the FPC, they have the 60's and 70's band do Q&A's (yes, some are still alive and singing 😉) and it is always fascinating to hear why they wrote a song and what it is really about. Like art, music evokes different feelings in different people, depending on their experience, despite what the artist's intentions might be.

 

I feel for the OP and the pain that this song evokes - many of us have been touched by opiate dependence in people we care about.  I had a brief thought about drugs when the song started, but then quickly was drawn into the wonder and delight in the of discovery of places on the Edge, which I think was the intended spirit of the commercial (I felt like Alice in November when I explored the ship 😉). I do respect how the commercial made others feel - we all are going to react differently.

[ScubesDad]

I reacted similar to the OP, in that I thought this was a very controversial song to have attached to a Celebrity ad.  I saw this ad for the first time tonight...in fact I have seen it three times in the last 90 minutes..it is running in every 30 minute cycle...my initial reaction was very similar in that I associate the song White Rabbit to the movie Go Ask Alice, and as previously noted that movie, and the book it was based on, was about a drug addict and her tribulations.....who eventually  dies.

White Rabbit is a classic, that is synonymous  with the boomers  and the flower power generation.....ironic that we are no longer the target market.

I did take one thing away from the ad....as Alice is sitting at the bar and picks the "herb", it gives me hope that soon we can pick some "herb" and roll a ....... oh never mind

 

[Cruise Junky]

9 minutes ago, ScubesDad said:

I reacted similar to the OP, in that I thought this was a very controversial song to have attached to a Celebrity ad.  I saw this ad for the first time tonight...in fact I have seen it three times in the last 90 minutes..it is running in every 30 minute cycle...my initial reaction was very similar in that I associate the song White Rabbit to the movie Go Ask Alice, and as previously noted that movie, and the book it was based on, was about a drug addict and her tribulations.....who eventually  dies.

White Rabbit is a classic, that is synonymous  with the boomers  and the flower power generation.....ironic that we are no longer the target market.

I did take one thing away from the ad....as Alice is sitting at the bar and picks the "herb", it gives me hope that soon we can pick some "herb" and roll a ....... oh never mind

 

However the song came out 4 years before the book was written. 

Its sad that it brings out strong emotions in people that have family with addictions but Celebrity are focusing on Alice in Wonderland. 

[ScubesDad]

12 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

However the song came out 4 years before the book was written. 

Its sad that it brings out strong emotions in people that have family with addictions but Celebrity are focusing on Alice in Wonderland. 

 

Although the song was released in  '67, it is often inferred that it was written when Slick was coming off an acid trip.

 

It is sad that the children's  story has been so strongly tied to the hallucinogenic  drug culture of the 60's and 70's.

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, LouTheGlue said:

Love that song...actual name is White Rabbit.

Agree...☮️

[Luvcrusn]

I wondered the same thing about the song choice for the new ad. Didn't anyone listen to the lyrics? Bad choice, bad message, bad judgement. Another poor choice by LLP and management team.

[SkystheLimit]

Think maybe Celebrity needs to hire an outside(or another) PR firm.  They are floundering with what appears to be no apparent concept of what they want to sell. They are all over the place.

 

[Cruise Junky]

18 minutes ago, SkystheLimit said:

Think maybe Celebrity needs to hire an outside(or another) PR firm.  They are floundering with what appears to be no apparent concept of what they want to sell. They are all over the place.

 

All due respect to your suggestion, this is at least the 4th thread on the topic...can no one search anymore?.....and a lot of people really like it. It’s a great ad IMO. 

[hcat]

Agree there are  too many threads! People rarely use the search feature. Truthfully, when I do, it is not as helpful as in the past...to say the least!

 

We'll be returning to EDGE in Nov,  wondering if the EDEN theme &  show will be morphing  into this new  theme....  "Mystic Crystal Revelations!"  The original sinful stuff  with faux X rated  teasers seemed to go away quickly..thankfully.

 

[pa-annie]

Just watched it, interesting commercial with a great song.  

 

https://www.adweek.com/creativity/jefferson-airplane-on-a-cruise-ship-lucky-generals-gets-psychedelic-for-celebrity-cruises/

[registrar]

Why can’t I comment on the current thread that I just happened to see.

Do I have to do a search before I can comment back?

This commercial is being seen in our homes and it’s message is clear

Take a trip with Celebrity Cruises 

An Acid Trip

 

[drew69]

Actually, the song is titled "White Rabbit" - has nothing at all to do with the book or movie titled Go Ask Alice.  It was a take on Alice in Wonderland.

[TeeRick]

15 hours ago, Water709 said:

Has anyone seen the new TV commercials for Celebrity, which have the old Jefferson Airplane song, "Go Ask Alice," as the background music?  This is a song about drugs, a girl named Alice taking illegal drugs and also supplying (dealing) the illegal pills as well.  The commercial even has the lyrics playing along to the images, which mention "one pill makes you taller, and one pill makes you small," and at the end it plays "Go ask Alice, while she's still small..."  As it shows a woman enjoying a deck chair, opening her eyes and you see a fleeting image of a female captain.  

    I find this commercial to be offensive; why would Celebrity choose a vintage song about illegal drugs to advertise their cruise experience?!  This makes me want to NEVER take another cruise on Celebrity.  If the marketing people did not realize this song was a song about illegal drugs, plenty of the people who might book one of their cruises surely remembers this song from the late 60's or early 70's.  There was also a book and a movie by the same name.  All about drug abuse.

   My DH and I have sailed with Celebrity several times and are Elite status.  Who exactly is Celebrity marketing this experience to?  Former or current drug addicts?  As the parent of an adult child who is battling addiction I find this commercial to be in really bad taste.  At least the music is.  The images are fine, very enticing.  But a drug song???  Is this part of the "Revolution?"  Our last cruise two months ago after the "Revolution" on Summit was disappointing, and now this music to sell their cruise experience... just makes me wonder where the company is going with their new image.  

 

I did not get offended by this ad and did not connect it in any way to Celebrity supporting drugs or being insensitive to drug addiction.  It seemed like a fun way to introduce more fantasy-like areas on Edge.  That's my take anyway.  But others such as the OP are offended and that is their personal feeling and experience.  No issue with that either.  There are a lot of cruise lines out there to spend your money if Celebrity is not right for you.

[upwarduk]

14 hours ago, Cruise it or lose it said:

 

Todays commercial makers may not understand what the song really stood for like some of us older people. That said, it was weird.

Sounds to me that Celebrity do weird.

I am thinking especially of the Muster station video that I had to endure in June 2018 on Silhouette.

We have recently returned from a cruise on Explorer of the Seas. Muster was held on deck, underneath our LIFEBOAT. True we were lined up like school children waiting to enter school, but we were shown how to put our life jacket on by a person demonstrating and we listened to the safety message. It was helpful and reality.

I just wonder how many passengers could actually see the video on Silhouette. We had seats, but just before the video started a very tall person came into Murano’s and stood in front of me, meaning I couldn’t see the screen. WIERD.

[davekathy]

Celebrity could have resurrected the song "Lust for life" RC use to use. 

[Luvcrusn]

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

The only Alice I know is from the Smokie song:

 

"Who the F..k is Alice"

 

Drugs and drug addiction are with us and will not go away, so why ban songs and just swwep the problem under the carpet.

No one here suggested banning anything, let alone the song. They were just saying that the song lyrics of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane were inappropriate to sell a modern luxury cruising experience. 

[baggal]

I thought the ad was meant to appeal to aging baby-boomers who remember the song from their youth.  I'm not offended.

[DYKWIA]

Could be worse, could have been "Living next door to Alice", the mid 90s version with Smokie and Roy Chubby Brown - if you are offended at Go Ask Alice you definitely will be with this

Edited September 26, 2019 by DYKWIA

[deliver42]

I, for one, would never go or not go on a cruise because of an ad. I go because of the on board experience. Ads don't tell the whole story of any product. They are meant so people will remember them. I believe, in that sense, it has worked. I just can't believe that the contents of an ad would force someone to alter their preferences.