The video message, which is actually an ad for a new kind pizza that’s “so big it doesn’t even fit in a traditional selfie,” shows how the emergence of the handheld monopod has shifted the selfie into a more perilous space.
“By moving the camera away from the central subject of the selfie, selfie sticks create the illusion that other objects, places, and even people exist,” the ad’s earnest narrator explains. “The curiosity generated by this new point of view leads our self-focused friends out into a much wider world, and that leads to disaster.”
She adds that given selfie takers’ propensity “to compare, compete, and outdo each other, selfie sticks in the hands of these vainglorious Van Goghs are growing in size, doubling and tripling in length.”
With that in mind, it’s little wonder tourist sites and sports events around the world are scrambling to ban the contraption. Afraid that the sticks might accidentally injure visitors or damage valuable artifacts, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and the Palace of Versailles near Paris – to name just three – have all introduced bans, while organizers of the UK’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships recently announced that it, too, would stop visitors at this year’s competition from using the device.
As Pizza Hut says at the end of its amusing ad: “Please selfie responsibly.” Check out a behind-the-scenes video of how the commercial was made.
