What's next Nick shilling for Tuna Helper...
Chicken of the Sea Scrolls Decoded
by Joal Ryan
Oct 21, 2003, 5:05 PM PT
Now who's going to tell Jessica Simpson chocolate mousse is a vegetarian dish?
The education of the 23-year-old pop singer continued Monday, as Simpson solved the Chicken of the Sea conundrum ("Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish?) with the help of the food giant.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
In a photo op at Chicken of the Sea's San Diego headquarters, company execs informed the terribly blonde Simpson, who posed the fishy question on her and husband Nick Lachey's MTV reality hit, Newlyweds, that their cans were packed with light tuna (i.e., fish), not chicken.
"Back in 1914...so consumers would know to expect a mild-flavored white fish--that tasted similar to chicken--the company marketed [its product] under the name Chicken of the Sea," corporate marketing executive Don George explained to Simpson.
Simpson apparently did not need to, as she says, "drop some kids in the pool" upon learning the shocking truth.
Rather, Chicken of the Sea spokeswoman Teresa Siles said Simpson took the news in stride. "She actually said something to the effect that Don George...did a better job explaining than her husband," Siles said.
The "Sweet Kisses" songstress has confronted many harsh realities since marrying former boy-bander Lachey, 29, in October 2002. MTV camera crews have been along for the bumpy ride, documenting the honeymooners' learning curve for the TV nation.
Since Newlyweds' August premiere, audiences have seen Simpson balk at buffalo wings ("I don't eat buffalo."), accept that the "plata-ma-pus" does not exist (but that the platypus does), and come to grips with rigor mortis (formerly, "Rigor who?").
Rarely discouraged in the face of adversity (except for that time it was time to fold the laundry), Simpson has demonstrated a sense of humor about her utter bubbleheadedness.
In her new music video, "With You," Simpson models a "plata-ma-pus" T-shirt, nibbles from a can of Chicken in the Sea and snacks on buffalo wings, which unlike Chicken in the Sea brand products, really are chicken pieces.
At Monday's two-hour Chicken of the Sea confab, she signed cans of albacore and chunk-light tuna, accepted a gift basket of canned food and an apron and joined execs for a rousing chorus of the company's famed jingle ("Ask any mermaid you happen to see...What's the best tuna? Chicken of the Sea!"). All this, and she's not even a paid spokesmermaid. (Chicken of the Sea said the door is open for possible endorsement talks.)
"It's fun to be lighthearted about stupid things you say," Simpson recently said, according to World Entertainment News Network.
Unfortunately for Simpson's record label, the singer's Newlywed notoriety hasn't translated into sales.
In This Skin, released just prior to the show's debut, opened at number 10 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart. But even as ratings for Newlyweds climbed (averaging 2.5 million viewers a week), sales for Into the Skin plummeted (falling to 62nd on the chart after just five weeks).
The show's season finale is scheduled to air Tuesday night. Its photogenic stars mark their first wedding anniversary on Sunday.
Though the Chicken of the Sea mystery is now solved, MTV is banking that there are many, many other things Simpson does not know. Accordingly, it has renewed the show for a second season.
For the record, we don't know that Simpson thinks chocolate mousse is made from moose, or as Jessica might say, "meeses." We're just taking an educated guess.
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,12746,00.html Wisdom
