AJ BLOG – Commercial jobs

By Paul Chernish

I like Swiss Chalet chicken very much.

Now that I’ve made it clear that Swiss Chalet is A-OK in my books, I’m afraid I’m going to have to call them out on their latest TV commercial. You know, the one with the three kitchen crew guys talking about how they prepare the chicken, including the alluring shot of the chicken roasting perfectly, turning teasingly slowly and bubbling and dripping it’s succulent juices. (Whew!)

I’m not comfortable with one of those three guys. It’s the bit-older of the bunch – the one that looks like anyone’s accountant. Or corporate sales rep. Or driving instructor. In fact, this guy looks like a lot of other job-holders, except for one – a real Swiss Chalet kitchen crew member.  Even when he barks out stuff like “Two half-chicken down”, which I think is some form of encrypted kitchen code, it translates to “Two half-chicken down” when coming out of his mouth.

This dude is not a chicken-slinger in real life. Case closed. I mean, imagine for a moment that you are at a chiropractic convention. Now form a picture in your mind of what the keynote speaker might look like. That’s him.

One of my friends used to be a Chalet kitchen crew guy. I’d sometimes hang around the kitchen while waiting to give him a ride home, and I got to know some of his coworkers. I met some very nice people of every race, gender, height and weight. And the physical appearance of none of them reminds me of this “character”.

What makes this even more annoying is that I don’t watch much TV, except for the NHL playoffs, which is on a Canadian channel, which, of course, is partly sponsored by the company that paid the agency that made this commercial. So I get an extra dose of imitation chicken crew member guy.