Cartman flies AirArabia?

April 20, 2006 7:49 AM

AirArabia is using cartoon characters on their website that have a remarkable resemblance to the "South ParK" kids.
posted by 445supermag (39 comments total)

Well, I guess it's time for western christian folk to throw a hissy fit and burn some shit down. Did I get that right?
posted by Witty at 7:53 AM on April 20, 2006

You light the match, Witty. I'm in!
posted by NationalKato at 7:55 AM on April 20, 2006

Looks to me like the artist AirArabia hired used something like this South Park Character Maker as a base, and then made a few touch-up modifications like the hands. Definitely lazy, maybe infringing on trademark, certainly not worth getting worked up over for anyone who doesn't work for Comedy Central.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:02 AM on April 20, 2006

Fustian.
posted by everichon at 8:05 AM on April 20, 2006

Screw you, they'll post what they want.
posted by Busithoth at 8:11 AM on April 20, 2006

Well, you ain't Fiona Apple and if you aren't Fiona Apple then I don't give a rat's ass.

They're different because they're wearing turbans instead of ski caps. And they all have zombie smiles. Beware children with zombie smiles.
posted by fenriq at 8:17 AM on April 20, 2006

Did I get that right?

Absolutely. Anybody who fucks with the sacred representation of the secular prophet, Eric Cartman deserves to die a horrible death.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:27 AM on April 20, 2006

I'm sure Trey and Matt care very much about this.
posted by wakko at 8:28 AM on April 20, 2006

I like how WND printed the image from the old South Park episode of the Prophet.
posted by birdherder at 8:30 AM on April 20, 2006

Good headline, though.
posted by hypocritical ross at 8:34 AM on April 20, 2006

I'm sure Trey and Matt care very much about this.

Well apparently they put Michael Moore in Team America because they were pissed off that, in Bowling for Columbine, an animation segment appeared twenty minutes after the interview with Matt Stone.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 8:38 AM on April 20, 2006

Eep, hit post before I finished there: about two years after the movie, I interned for Harold Moss, the guy who did the cartoon segment, who's pretty much pissed more than anyone that Parker & Stone started bitching that Moore "implied the South Park guys made it." Harold & Moore are long friends and the idea that Moore would snub his credit is just obnoxious. Or as Moss told me, "I guess mentioning I made it in a full-screen credit listing and on Oprah was too vague for them."

In other words, Parker & Stone are very protective of their own work, or at the very least ultra-defensive about being told they created something they actually didn't create. Given they do entire episodes of their show about who's pissing them off this week I think this is exactly the thing they care about
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 8:48 AM on April 20, 2006

Yeah, someone's a marketing genius over there at AirArabia.
posted by wumpus at 8:59 AM on April 20, 2006

20 minutes? i seem to remember it being right after seeing trey and matt, i could be wrong though, their late night talk show complaints about it have probably brainwashed me
posted by wumpus at 9:01 AM on April 20, 2006

wumpus- the thing about the metal detectors and the entire Marilyn Manson interview took place inbetween Stone and the cartoon.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:05 AM on April 20, 2006

(Anyway, sorry to derail. My point is that Parker & Stone are famous for attacking other people, but they are incredibly defensive when it comes to any perception of an attack on their own product. Which I guess can be either very hypocritical or very respectable depending on how you look at it)
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:08 AM on April 20, 2006

I love how, since it's Air Arabia, the headline is that they've "hijacked" the South Park characters.
posted by chococat at 9:23 AM on April 20, 2006

oops, hypocritical ross pointed that out already.
posted by chococat at 9:24 AM on April 20, 2006

Blame AirCanada.
posted by basicchannel at 9:37 AM on April 20, 2006

If we determine that South Park characters are WMDs , can we invade now... I mean since we can't seem to get our shit together on the Iran invasion, and the cold war with China is down the road a bit, and Iraq is well under control, and we've got what's his name, you know that terrorist guy we're hunting, pinned down in the mountains somewhere, we've really got nothing else to do right now..
posted by HuronBob at 9:59 AM on April 20, 2006

Man, in the course of a month, Isaac Hayes, shitting Jesus and now AirArabia. This has got to be the best South Park viral marketing year ever.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:59 AM on April 20, 2006

AirArabia is using cartoon characters on their website that have a remarkable resemblance to the "South ParK" kids. poorly rendered humanoids composed of primitive geometric forms.

Did they trademark crude art between this season and the last?
posted by prostyle at 11:07 AM on April 20, 2006

"This has got to be the best South Park viral marketing year ever."

Too bad it's been the worst season ever. Last night was just awful.
posted by 2sheets at 11:12 AM on April 20, 2006

I agree. Towlie did not deserve his own episode.
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:22 PM on April 20, 2006

wumpus- the thing about the metal detectors and the entire Marilyn Manson interview took place in-between Stone and the cartoon.

I'd heard that the DVD had been re-arranged a little bit to add space between the south park interview and the cartoon bit.

Anyway, south park is so damn preachy these days? Did anyone see the the episode about "A million little fibers" and Oprah? That episode was so damn stupid I turned it off half way through.
posted by delmoi at 12:22 PM on April 20, 2006

On post: I guess so. :P
posted by delmoi at 12:22 PM on April 20, 2006

I love how, since it's Air Arabia, the headline is that they've "hijacked" the South Park characters.

I was wondering if anybody else noticed that... hm.
posted by Raoul.Duke at 12:29 PM on April 20, 2006

Did anyone see the the episode about "A million little fibers" and Oprah? That episode was so damn stupid I turned it off half way through.

Oh come on, the five-minute close-up scene of Oprah with a loaded gun sticking out of her box was classic.
posted by wakko at 12:34 PM on April 20, 2006

Don't blame Air Arabia. They don't tell the manatees what to draw.
posted by surplus at 12:44 PM on April 20, 2006

What was the whole paris thing referencing?
posted by dial-tone at 1:03 PM on April 20, 2006

Bad? The entire episode revolved around Oprah's vagina and asshole so desperate to get action they kill a Chicago cop. That's like turning off Mozart in the middle of the Symphony no. 9.
posted by geoff. at 1:12 PM on April 20, 2006

Mozart's symphony no. 9 doesn't really resonate with me.
still, go airarabia! maybe it's to independent contractors to fly using them.
posted by Busithoth at 1:16 PM on April 20, 2006

A local furniture chain (Cardi's) has been doing commercials with south park-style people for years.
posted by knave at 1:31 PM on April 20, 2006

Or Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 for that matter.
posted by geoff. at 1:46 PM on April 20, 2006

the thing about the metal detectors and the entire Marilyn Manson interview took place inbetween Stone and the cartoon.

Damn it! Michael Moore is implying that Marilyn Manson created the cartoon! That bastard!

And yes, last night's episode was, without a doubt, the worst episode of South Park I have ever seen. And that's saying quite a bit considering that I managed to sit through "Bloody Mary."
posted by magodesky at 1:57 PM on April 20, 2006

I'd take anything worldnetdaily said more seriously if its articles were written with a bit more attention to proper grammar. And it might help to interest less idiologically hidebound South Park fans if it refrained from running headlines right under the article such as:

Shock a Muslim – with the truth!

The Life and Religion of Mohammed: Learn the ugly truth about the founder of the world's most violent religion

South Park': Satanic or just harmless fun?
Perhaps a telling indicator of the state of today's culture, the television show "South Park" and the movie based on the series succeed in ridiculing nearly every traditional institution and moral belief in the West ... Anthony LoBaido explores some specific "South Park" episodes and details the creative ways the show's producers mock Jesus Christ and glorify human waste.

Perhaps the PTBs at wnd figure it's just typical of those dirty violent muslims to like such a degenerate show as South Park, shame on their heathen semitic arses.
posted by meehawl at 5:52 PM on April 20, 2006

Somewhat ironically, the WND article links to a full-length version of the "Trapped in the Closet" episode on YouTube which is clearly violating Comedy Central's copyright.

There was another full-length version posted on YouTube (shortly after it aired last November) which was pulled (for copyright violations) shortly after Hayes quit the show and people started seeking it out.
posted by pruner at 5:59 PM on April 20, 2006

This, to me, is the best part of the article:

Tony Fox, executive vice president of corporate communications at the Comedy Central network, said he was completely unaware of the purloined look until informed by WND.

"It's amazing to me how quickly people will jump on a phenomenon," he said.

Yes, yes, Air Arabia moved very quickly indeed...only took 'em what, a mere nine years? I think Tony Fox needs to pay more attention to his network.
posted by trigonometry at 11:20 PM on April 20, 2006

Man, tonights SP was terrible.
posted by dial-tone at 8:38 PM on April 26, 2006