Teenagers are really into prom, but the more self-aware among them don’t want to admit that they’re really into prom, so they have to sarcastically be into prom. While the more earnest among my high school peers did the standard limo and a nice restaurant thing (which is, granted, is a waste of money since girls don’t eat before prom), those more concerned about cultivating their image went hard on the irony leading up to the always-disappointing dance.
For one prom, my date and his buddies took the group to dine among the squealing children at Chuck E. Cheese—the utter epitome of humor and wit as far as they were concerned (they spent the night repeatedly referring to it as “Charles Edward Cheese.”) Other pairs opted to hit the local barbeque dive bar, frequented only by truck drivers and on-trend teens.
It’s only natural that the high-schoolers of today would be ready to up the ante with some tragically ironic corsages. Which brings us to the KFC Fried Chicken Corsage. Capitalizing on teenagers’ need to pretend like they don’t care about anything, even though they actually care about all the things? And providing fodder for the rest of us to shake our heads in disbelief—but also remember that we’re pretty hungry, and fried chicken does sound pretty good, now that they mentioned it? All while mocking its own absurd and contrived marketing scheme? The brain may explode when it hits this many layers of irony. But it is advertising genius.
Image: BRKN screenshot.
