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Truthful Sea Monkeys ad

brineshrimp.jpg

The horrifyingly misspelled borring aside, I thought comics fans would get as big a kick out of this as I did. What if those Sea Monkeys ads in comic books actually told the truth? “But what do you know? You’re just a stupid kid!”

Visit Joey’s blog for the full-size image.

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com/ Jed Alexander

    Why oh why was that ad so compellingly sexy?

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com Jed Alexander

    Why oh why was that ad so compellingly sexy?

  • http://www.jasoncrosbyillustration.com/ Jason

    I actually just heard something on NPR this past weekend about the inventor of the sea monkeys, Harold Von Braunhut. He recently passed, but was planning one more invention w/ a similiar feel but using frogs (tadpoles).

    He also invented the ‘invisible golfish’ and ‘x-ray spexs’.

  • http://www.jasoncrosbyillustration.com Jason

    I actually just heard something on NPR this past weekend about the inventor of the sea monkeys, Harold Von Braunhut. He recently passed, but was planning one more invention w/ a similiar feel but using frogs (tadpoles).

    He also invented the ‘invisible golfish’ and ‘x-ray spexs’.

  • http://www.brianbarber.com/ brian

    I was totally sucked in by this stuff as a kid, and now I get to relive it as my 8 year old is exposed to similiar ads. It’s painful to be saying the exact same stuff my Dad was saying to me that made me so mad.
    I actually told my kids, “stop it, you’ll poke an eye out” once. Then I gasped in horror at what I had become.

  • http://www.brianbarber.com brian

    I was totally sucked in by this stuff as a kid, and now I get to relive it as my 8 year old is exposed to similiar ads. It’s painful to be saying the exact same stuff my Dad was saying to me that made me so mad.
    I actually told my kids, “stop it, you’ll poke an eye out” once. Then I gasped in horror at what I had become.

  • Sarasvati48

    Me, being the inquisitive, reading-voraciously-and-early-child that I was, checked the fine print, and looked up what the scientific name for brine shrimp referred to, exactly. The encyclopedia picture looked nothing like the artist depiction. That, along with a healthy dose of skepticism instill by my father, taught me early the cost of believing everything you read in advertising.

  • Sarasvati48

    Me, being the inquisitive, reading-voraciously-and-early-child that I was, checked the fine print, and looked up what the scientific name for brine shrimp referred to, exactly. The encyclopedia picture looked nothing like the artist depiction. That, along with a healthy dose of skepticism instill by my father, taught me early the cost of believing everything you read in advertising.

  • Sarasvati48

    Somebody “invented” sea monkeys, or the idea to sell them? I grow these things to feed my fish.

  • Sarasvati48

    Somebody “invented” sea monkeys, or the idea to sell them? I grow these things to feed my fish.

  • http://www.brooklynartproject.com/ brooklynartproject

    Not only did these things die as soon as you got them, they smelled exactly how you think an actual monkey from the sea would. I had friends that waited 6-8 WEEKS for these things and were crushed when they realized they were punked. Not surprised to hear Harold Von Braunhu invented the X-ray specs too. Those just sounded way too good to be true.

  • http://www.brooklynartproject.com brooklynartproject

    Not only did these things die as soon as you got them, they smelled exactly how you think an actual monkey from the sea would. I had friends that waited 6-8 WEEKS for these things and were crushed when they realized they were punked. Not surprised to hear Harold Von Braunhu invented the X-ray specs too. Those just sounded way too good to be true.

  • jack r

    Two months ago I relented and bought my five year old the updated version of the sea monkey kit, and she thinks it’s great. Amazingly, several of the things are still swimming around and it no longer requires a microscope to see them. And they really are beginning to look like the family in the ad. The official web page for sea monkeys is kind of cute too.

    Now for the spoof. I found the endless copy borrrrrring.

  • jack r

    Two months ago I relented and bought my five year old the updated version of the sea monkey kit, and she thinks it’s great. Amazingly, several of the things are still swimming around and it no longer requires a microscope to see them. And they really are beginning to look like the family in the ad. The official web page for sea monkeys is kind of cute too.

    Now for the spoof. I found the endless copy borrrrrring.

  • http://www.sandboxworld.com/ sandboxworld

    It gets better. One site is selling Sea Monkeys and this is what they claim.

    Our wonderful, G-Rated Sea-Monkeys are non-violent, salt-water swilling sweeties but they do love gold bullion! This brand new hybrid of Sea Monkeys change color as they grow. Watch them turn yellow, orange and red!
    http://www.discoverthis.com/pirategold.html

    I wonder what the R-Rated version would be like.

  • http://www.sandboxworld.com sandboxworld

    It gets better. One site is selling Sea Monkeys and this is what they claim.

    Our wonderful, G-Rated Sea-Monkeys are non-violent, salt-water swilling sweeties but they do love gold bullion! This brand new hybrid of Sea Monkeys change color as they grow. Watch them turn yellow, orange and red!
    http://www.discoverthis.com/pirategold.html

    I wonder what the R-Rated version would be like.

  • http://www.tindaisies.com/ Gabrielle

    Aww.. don’t knock the little critters… I have a tank of sea monkeys in my office at work and this morning, I discovered they had a couple of babies over the weekend! Some of our regular clients always have to take a peek in the tank when they drop by.

    Usually people remember the comic book ads when they were kids and often they’ll tell me they thought it was an outright scam, so they’re surprised when they actually see living things in there. (and true, usually the next remark is that they don’t look anything like the pictures in the ads…)

    Hmm, G rated? I wonder how that works? Since they are in a see through tank with very little privacy, I can say from first hand experience that you see everything they do, unless the tank is all female, in which case they can also reproduce asexually.

  • http://www.tindaisies.com Gabrielle

    Aww.. don’t knock the little critters… I have a tank of sea monkeys in my office at work and this morning, I discovered they had a couple of babies over the weekend! Some of our regular clients always have to take a peek in the tank when they drop by.

    Usually people remember the comic book ads when they were kids and often they’ll tell me they thought it was an outright scam, so they’re surprised when they actually see living things in there. (and true, usually the next remark is that they don’t look anything like the pictures in the ads…)

    Hmm, G rated? I wonder how that works? Since they are in a see through tank with very little privacy, I can say from first hand experience that you see everything they do, unless the tank is all female, in which case they can also reproduce asexually.