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Is CM Punk a "subliminal message" from tobacco and liquor companies?
Ok now, I'm not really a wrestling fan, but I will watch a few matches here and there when my boyfriend has it on. Even though I know the competitions are fake, I can still appreciate the skill displayed by the athletes. However, the biggest thing that keeps me from sitting down and just watching it is the obnoxious, soap opera-like banter between the performers. I just don't see how anyone can sit through it.
All this aside, there is one performer that I find particularly disturbing: CM Punk. If you've never seen him, his antics include preaching a "straight-edge" lifestyle and making disparaging remarks toward anyone who smokes, drinks, uses illicit or even prescription drugs. Now, this would be fine if he weren't an obnoxious, condescending, "bad-guy" wrestler.
What he's doing here is essentially reverse psychology: a villainous character tells you to do something good, but he's a villain, so you don't do it. If I were an alcohol or tobacco executive, this would be exactly the type of plan I'd come up with to target my primary demographic: people who are mostly poor and uneducated and their kids.
I am way off base here or what?
ALT + X: I agree with the first part of your answer. You have to acknowledge that many people are heavily influenced by what they see on TV. That's why I asked this in the first place.
But if the second part of your answer is true, then I must be seeing it the wrong way. I hope you're right.
6 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
CM Punk's character is one that uses his real-life straight edge beliefs as part of his personality. When he was a good guy, he's indifferent to those who use drugs and instead focused on its advantages. Punk would say that his only addiction was competition, and that made him such a great wrestler. But as a bad guy, Punk's character becomes an elitist who forces his beliefs on others and believes anybody who's even touched a drug is worthless. He claims to be a savior, someone who saves people from the ills of drugs to create a higher class of person.
In that view, you can see Punk's character isn't pro-drugs, it's pro-tolerance. It's supposed to show that even if you took a wrong turn and experimented or became addicted to drugs, unlike how Punk says, you can still turn your life around.
Problem is the WWE hasn't emphasized that point, as his opponents have all basically implied that "living in the moment" is a fine lifestyle. Instead, more emphasis should have been put on the idea that people should have second chances, that just because you take drugs doesn't automatically mean you're a horrible person like Punk preaches. A similar message is being handled on WWE's RAW show, where an real-life ex-convict named Montel Vontavious Porter gets consistently put down by opponents and told he gets no second chances for having been in jail. Yet MVP mentions during his speeches that he's paid his dues and now wants to help his fans not go down the same road he did.
Again, Punk isn't a character advertising the use of drugs through reverse psychology. He's a character advocating tolerance for those who have fallen into the drug lifestyle. Whether it's worked or not, well, your mileage may vary.
- TheLv 61 decade ago
If someone is so influenced by a character on a TV show, that they would start drinking, smoking, or taking drugs, just because "CM Punk" told them not to, then they should not be watching TV in the first place. I have seen quite a few people taking the "Straight Edge" pledge or whatever he calls it, because of CM Punk, which is the exact opposite of what your saying will happen.
- The DragonLv 71 decade ago
You're reading too much into the gimmick and taking the character too seriously.
CM Punk is doing the old staple "I'm better than you" wrestling heel that's been done for many decades. His "spin" on that gimmick is the "I don't smoke or drink so THAT makes me better than you" shtick. Chris Masters (the one with the, uh, "dancing" pectoral muscles), did the same thing in a previous gimmick, where he was "better than everybody" because of his bodybuilder physique. That didn't influence anybody as far as working out goes. The Miz is doing an "I'm better than everybody" gimmick based on his claims of being so sure of himself and wanting to prove he does belong that he'll be as obnoxious as possible so people WILL watch and listen to him. That's not influencing the fans to be obnoxious jerks to get attention in real-life.
Basically, Punk is a cartoon character. He's more based on those "holier than thou" ex-smokers and preachy alcoholics and drug abusers who've stopped taking what they're addicted to than anything else. Everybody hates those types in real-life. You just want to tell them to go have a smoke or a drink and just shut the hell up. He's just a parody turned up to 11. The "saving the fan" bit is proof of that.
You might also have noticed the recent beard on Punk and his claims of being our "savior". I would think this would anger the religious types more than the "reverse" message Punk is sending. But again, he's just a parody turned up to 11, being as obnoxious as he can to get the fans to hate him FOR trying to tell them how to run their lives. Really, no different from Chris Jericho's "message" that all fans are mindless sheep who should open their eyes and see the "truth" out there.
The WWE fan base are from all walks of life. The stereotype of a "rasslin fan" being "uneducated trailer park trash" is just that, a stereotype. The fans KNOW what Punk is doing. They aren't booing his "message" or "disobeying" him out of spite. They are booing his delivery of that message. Punk has absolutely no influence on whether or not a fan will smoke, drink, or take any sort of drug.
- 1 decade ago
mmm......CM Punk, when I first saw this fool, I thought he was a dork, and still do. Something about the guy, hate him w/ a passion. When I see him, I just change the channel, and it pisses me off b/c I foget to turn it back sometimes. I'd rather him be a retarded bad guy than a retarded good guy so I can hate him even more. Y.... I don't know.
But hey he give people hope of being a wrestler if they want that dream. B/c if that weak looser can do it, anybody can. I hope Mark Henry sits on his a$$
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- vickmossjohnsonLv 41 decade ago
i always thought that. just like right to censor. It wont be long until a barbie/mattel character comes to raw.....