20th Sep 2008
Little Gordon acts like a man
So, see what you think about the new Little Gordon ads, depicting a mini-me Gordon Ramsey. Media can exaggerate an already-existing trait and extend it. The use of a little kid makes it safe and “harmeless.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcZqwR9tbJE&feature=related
There are several, watch them all.
This is unbelievable! At first i just couldn’t believe it and watched just laughing out loud like crazy. I thought it was hilarious at first especially because he was so like Gordon Ramsey. I watch all Gordon Ramsey’s shows and love them all for who he is. He is very entertaining, there’s no ifs ands or buts about that. The kid is identical to him its crazy. I watched all three clips and they really do grab your attention and thats what they are there for, so they are doing a great job in that matter. However, do i agree with what they are doing, in using a young kid to sell their product, absolutely not. The first clip was hilarious for the first few seconds but then i just couldn’t believe how anyone, especially a company use a young kid in this manner. Its ridiculous. How could the kids parents allow this??? Obviously, its all about the all mighty dollar $$$, but come on. It is really sad how this is allowed. What is the world coming to, really? The idea of the commercial bit is brilliant, but to actually use it and to use a real kid is just crazy. There needs to be some rules out there that prevent children from being used in situations like this, because if this keeps up, what is the world and media going to look like in twenty years??
yeah, it is funny, it is clever…but the kid is just a kid…very problematic
Since I had never watched any Gordon Ramsey show before this (I didn’t even know that he existed, I guess I am quite media illiterate…), I did not find it funny at all. Actually I thought it was quite shocking and disturbing to see a kid act like this, especially in the first clip, and I couldn’t believe this was being used as an advertisement. I watched them two times and by the end the shock had started to wear off but I was still quite disgusted by the image that was given and the behaviors that were legitimated. Choosing to show such a clip is like choosing to say that it is OK to swear at your mother and behave violently as long as you have a good reason to do it - and even the goodness of the reason is disputable in my opinion.
After that I did some research and found more about the real Gordon Ramsey, and it helped me getting the point of the commercials; I even understood how someone who knows all these references could find them very funny. And this frightened me quite a lot, because I realize that if I had grown up in this cultural environment, watching these TV shows, I would have perhaps not understood how problematic these clips are and would have just found them extremely funny and clever. Media has such a power that it can even make us forget to think about what we see, and turn us into mere absorbers that accept everything and never question it.
Wowwwwwwww….I honestly don’t even have the adequate words to respond to this.
I personally love Gordon Ramsey, and I watch his shows on the Food Network on a regular basis. However, I don’t feel that this type of advertising is at all ethical. To begin with, employing a young child and asking (and PAYING) him to act like an insensitive, rude, in-your-face kid version of Ramsey is teaching him, and all the children out there that it is ok to act like this. To be honest, I already feel that our society is becoming increasingly disconnected and discourteous, and to have advertisements like this is only serving to back this theory up. This child is being taught that it is ok to be impolite, bad-mannered, vulgar, and disrespectful to all around you, including your parents. We are all struggling to teach and instill morals and values in the youth of today, and messages like these are showing that being uncouth and offending other members of society is not only acceptable, but funny. Whatever happened to the ideal of respecting one’s elders? It apparently got lost somewhere in the shuffle. I’m not totally innocent either, as I certainly initially thought that the first 10 seconds of the first clip was funny. Understandably though, the humour turned to horror when I imagined the huge impact that this is going to have on our already shaky society. The Gordon is going to have to think again about the pros and cons of his advertisements. As I said earlier, taking into account the societal impact of such videos, I don’t feel that it is not worth the “laughs”.
It’s incredible how much people get off on other people’s suffering and misery. It really does demonstrate a cruel and sadistic side of human nature; and I am guilty of it to. I’ve watched Hell’s Kitchen, and why? Because you get to see aspiring chefs get insulted, humiliated, and just plain bullied. Cause really, that’s what the show is about, not cooking. Oh yes, and sometimes someone dares defend themselves just to get crushed even more severely in the end. We truly have become desensitized to abusive treatment and seem to have blurred the lines between that and comedy. The Romans had their coliseum, we’ve got reality TV!!! Hey, I watch it, it’s safe! And I guess the more shocking it is the better. Because now we have children swearing like truckers (that’s my stereotype of the day!), and we think it’s cute and funny. I’m guilty of giggling when I hear a little kid swear. It always seems funny at first when children emulate adult like behaviours, especially “inappropriate behaviours”. But it really comes to show how much we have lowered our standards when it comes to civility amongst ourselves in general. The F word has become part of our routine language. We use it to describe just about anything: “that’s a f@#$ing nice dress”, I’m so f@#$ing happy to see you”, “that was f@#$ing funny”. What am I suppose to say when I truly get pissed now?!!! Maybe I should just go the Ramsey way, and just swear with a British accent, it seems to be working for him!
I didn’t know chef Ramsey before this assignment, I have to say that I thought it was very funny. It sets a weird example for kids all over who will see the ad, the language in this is obviously wrong for little children. We come back to the debate on which we ask whether we should control better what goes on on TV and on the radio. In doing so we could spare our children of such intense language or subject matters in other cases. On the other hand I believe it delivers exactly what it wants to, a highly intense and funny clip that sells a catering company well. It’s catchy, vulgar, simple minded. I the end it should do wonders for those looking for a non-crust sandwich buffet loader with crab cakes, and dryed up cup cakes.
I actually wanted to talk about a talk show but didn’t know where to place this blog so please bare with me. Every weekday at 4 o’clock Oprah begins (at least in montreal on CTV). I remember when i was young how i coould not stand it when i came home from school and my mother would be watching Oprah. Now i run home from school and try tro catch the show when i don’t have too much work. As much as i realize how the show is used in a way to advertise certain items or give publicity to celebrities, authors… i still find it a very captivating shows. i admire her alot when she goes out and gives back Ie: gowing to africa (i think) and building a school for little girls. Yes not everyone got to go to that school, but its a step in the right direction. Then there’s raising money to build homes for katrina victims. This woman is powerful and she knows it. whatever she says is good for you people listen, in a way they idolize this woman. However i find instead of taking too much advantage of this, she uses it to “make the world a better place”. She often brings regular people like you and me to her stage to try and help them with their situtation. As much as its just an hour of her time it means the world to them. i just want to end off with one woman she helped who was crowned princess for a day, she did so much for her family, Oprah brought her on and pampered her and gave her a new car. A few months later katrina hit her home town and she lost her home. Oprah brought her back on the show and offered to renovate her entire broken and damaged home. This is what i call a special woman, even if others say its just publicity.
Harmless? These videos can and are harming many different groups of people. First and foremost the child actor is being expected I think to grow up way to fast. I know these days 5 year olds know these words, however to make an advertisement tells people its acceptable to expect children to act like adults. Why would we want to make this behaviour acceptable and even glorify it in our society. This is terrible, we each need to start out just as a child and slowly follow the developmental stages. It is harmful to other children because they see the loss of respect and the odd power dynamic between the adults and children and it can confuse them more than they need to be. It is harmful to parents and adults in authority because it questions their authority and makes them look like pushovers. Therefore advertisements are definitely not harmless they sway us one way or another, and can change the way people think whether for the positive or negative.
I think that everyone is overreacting just a little bit. Yes, if a child were really like this it would be a horrible thing. If the producers of the commercial and the child’s parents expected the child to behave like this full time then it would be just awful. In reality, little Gordon is just an actor. The fact that he can convince people that he really is all grown up (but still immature) just means that he pulled the part of and that he is a talented young prospect. We do not know little Gordon’s real name nor do we know how he act in real life. I am pretty confident however that he does not in fact carry himself in the way that he does in those commercials. Yes the commercials were made to make money, but no they are not exploiting the child any more than a movie that has a young actor play a negative role in it exploit a child. The producers are simply paying the boy to act the way they told him to on camera and nothing more. The kid makes money and gains experience, we laugh and the product is sold. Everybody is winning in this situation an there is n need to get touchy about it.
I personally love watching Gordon Ramsey’s shows; Kitchen Nightmares is one of my favorite shows!! I agree with Mitchell above, that people are making this into a bigger deal than it should be. Although that clip does show foul language and no respect for his mother, children these days are becoming more and more like that. If you look around at the grocery store or toy store, the amount of tantrums or children whining and screaming is amazing. I am around the elementary school environment usually once a week, and the amount of young children, grades two or three, that are in the hallway for swearing or at the principals office for foul language is incredible, and that’s just one school. It doesn’t make it right to swear, but at the same time it shouldn’t come as such a cultural shock to the public that there is a clip with Chef Ramsey’s son swearing. I also thought it was interesting that the mom was such a pushover. Many parents these days are becoming easily pushed into giving into their children.
I’d also like to comment on Rachel’s comment about Oprah. My cousin and I have had so many debates about whether Oprah is a good or bad person. I personally believe she is a good person and that although she may be gaining publicity through all of her charity but at least she does charity. So many other people, who have SO much money, don’t even think to donate it even if they will get publicity. Even Rachel Ray is someone I admire. I had watched an old episode about when a hurricane hit a school in the States and she helped to pay for the graduating classes prom, dresses, suits for the guys and decorations, everything. Many people may have thought well these people in America already have everything and its not like they have no food, they just don’t get a prom. But I still think it’s the though that counts. Not everyone can make a HUGE impact on the world as a WHOLE, but people can make a difference somewhere in the world.
One thing that makes a television show to be irresistible to watch is the main character. The producers apparently know how to cater the audience by giving the main role to the most attractive and talented character. In the reality show, Little Gordon, the cute little boy makes us wonder what got him into this lucrative business, perhaps a singing talent. When I watched the clips, I was jolted awake by the curse language and extremely unacceptable behavior coming from such an adorable kid. First, I thought he had some kind of talent that would impress me and that would make him a role model for the other kids in tuned. Unfortunately, the insensitive producer of Little Gordon, whose main goal is to make big money, exploits the evil side of the child. This act will, at some point, change his true character in real life. The wealthy Gordon can do anything, which means he can continue treating other people apathetically because he’s got the money. Thus, he is conditioned to act inappropriately by the producers and the script writers, and rewarded for acting as a devious person. If young Gordon is continuously encouraged and rewarded, little Gordon’s inappropriate behavior towards the elder would persist in real life, in spite of merely acting on television. On one hand, the Little Gordon show incites laughter to the audience and brings immense profit to the people behind the scene. On the other hand, it demonizes the American children and portrays the failure of American parents’ behavioral management.
I agree with Mitchell, people are overreacting to this! Yes, the ad does portray a child acting inappropriately, but the bottom line is it’s just an ad! The child actor is not being exploited, he is doing a job that he has agreed to do, and is probably being paid a lot more than you or I get paid!
Little Gordon’s producer is also making money, but I would hardly call it exploitation on his part either. It’s his job to find talented kids to fill roles, and the kid who plays Gordon is funny and has talent. The producer is not forcing him to act in this way, it was the kids (or his parents) decision to take the role.
I also find it really hard to believe that his on-screen behavior will continue off set. Real life and TV are two very different things, and as an actor, this child is probably well aware of that fact.
Kids now are so desensitized to swearing and are constantly exposed to bad examples from TV, video games etc. I think people should stop getting so offended by harmless comedy such as little Gordon. Teach children which examples are positive and which are negative and that TV is not real life, and in the mean time, relax a little and stop over-analyzing everything! It’s funny! Laugh!
Okay so I was talking about this in the staff room of my stage school about this and came to this conclusion. THE KID IS AN ACTOR!!! Sure he’s young but it’s been explained to him that it’s a character and that’s why he was picked to do this commercial. He was doing his job. This isn’t even half as bad as kids in third world countries working in factories and yet we still buy nike. Give it a rest already. It was a bloody commercial that got people’s attention, which I think is the purpose behind a commercial in the first place. So here we are encouraging, whether against or for, the companies to use stratigies like this since we are watching, blogging and talking about it. And hell it was a funny commercial that was poking fun at the star of the show!! Gordon has to have a pretty good sense of humor to let the network make a commercial like that. So what else does that say about him? That he doesn’t take himself to seriously, nor the commercial. So maybe we should follow his lead and stop over analyzing things and just enjoy the fact that a top celebrity doesn’t have a problem with being the butt end of a good joke.
I found this video clip was very two sided. On one hand i found the clip did a good job in portraying chef Gorgon Ramsey and found it really funny. Where as I find it can be portraye as very offensive and vulger and a child should not be able to “act” that way. It may send the message to children that it is okay to treat people in that fashion. I agree with the hidden message that the kid makes it seem harmless and safe. As well the media is exaggerating a trait, it catches attention (which is it job) and causes contraversy, but does not send a positive message. I find that Gordon Ramseys attitude gives people the okay to act in rude fashion. I am not a huge fan of swearing and find the whole thing rather inappropriate.
I agree with Alyssa. I think that this is just a really funny clip, designed to catch your attention, and probably even get you to chuckle. I really don’t think it’s intended to be taken so seriously. The portrayal of Chef Ramsey is ingenious, and the fact that we’re even discussing it means that the technique of using a child was effective. I think that the whole concept of child actors puts children at this risk, and I mean, it’s the parents’ responsibility to make sure their little actor/actress understands that its just “for pretend” and that that attitude is unacceptable in real life. In most cases, I don’t think children are going to see this ad and instantly think that that’s how they should talk to their parents, and if you really do believe that, I think you’re just giving children too little credit, because I know when I was younger, I didn’t feel the need to emulate everything I saw on TV. Some commercials are specifically made to cause a buzz, and I think this is geared to the fans of Chef Ramsey’s show, which typically aren’t children. Anyways, I really think that there’s no need to be offended by this commercial, and that it should just be taken as it is, a joke; Nothing more, nothing less.
After watching the clips i was absolutely stunned……Little Gordon is incredibly rude, and unbelievable. Like others have said already, i think the clips are over exaggerated to grab the audience’s attention..and it did! I’ve watched several of Gordon Ramsey’s shows before and didn’t really like it much.Personally, I find Gordon Ramsey rude and the things he say are mean most of the times. Like Gordon’s shows, I dont really like the commercials either since little Gordon is like a duplicate of the actual Gordon Ramsey. I think they are just a bit too much…too exaggerated.
So others have written that these commercials might not be appropriate and are harmful to our society. Well, i think differently. I don’t think that they’re harmful since i think little children don’t really emulate everything they see on TV, and even ones who do, i think their parents, older siblings or teachers will teach them that it’s wrong to behave like that. So, in the long run, i don’t think children will grow up being problematic just by watching these commercials. In fact, they might even learn that it is unaccpetable to give attitude the way little Gordon does because their parents will be beside them telling them that it’s wrong!!
Like others, I agree that some of us are just overreacting to these commercials. I don’t think it have such a big impact to our children today. Afterall, it’s just an advertisement, another way to make profit and as the audience, we know that companies will exaggerate matters just to get our attention.
After watching the first clip, I must say that I laughed enough to check out some of the others. I think that person who came up with the idea was brilliant - they thought outside the box and definitely made it memorable. How many times a day are we bombarded with ads, and cannot even remember what they were about? Or if we do remember the product, we barely remember how the ad played out. In this case, it was shocking enough to be humorous and memorable.
In terms of the child’s behavior, I think it was just really good acting. Even if he is able to imitate Gordon Ramsey without a cameraman present, he has to know (through parenting or whatever) when the behavior is “cute” and when it has gone too far. The fact is, children do tend to emulate what they see on TV. I mean, I know wayyy too many people who, as children, pretended they were the power rangers, or ninja turtles, or superman, or cinderella. In my case, through my parents, I learned that there was a time a place to pretend to be these people, and the middle of a mall was not for a ninja turtle combat. And yes, i understand that Ramsey isn’t the best role model in terms of language or certain behaviors, but some of the shows back when we grew up were just as bad in terms of violence.
As i already said, I think that parents, or any other form of guardian to the children (and i include older siblings here and family) should just teach their kids that certain things are not appropriate in certain contexts. I think people have to realize that children should not raised merely by media, that adults have a responsibility to their own children to monitor some of what they are watching - because honestly, how many 7 yr olds are really watching that cooking show?
prom decorations…
Interestingly, this was on CNN last week….
hells kitchen gordon ramsey…
This was a great article pertaining to hells kitchen gordon ramsey….
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Good job with Living With a Chef at Faux Real. gordon ramseys are the best….
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