Are they being ironic or oblivious?

When I saw this video I wondered, are they thumbing their noses at people? Are they oblivious of the lyrics in the song? Are they disconnected on purpose or is it all a joke? It might be fun to show this video to a few real coal miners.




I guess I also think about the line "owing my soul to the company store" a lot these days especially after the passage of the bankruptcy bill. Remember the majority of bankruptcy happens due to medical costs, not people buying too many pairs of designer shows. After hearing today about a friends' struggle trying to find decent health care I wondered about all the people digging this "envirofriendly" coal for GE. Do they have any groovy new protection?




Slate did a story about this ad a week ago and the author has some of the same thoughts I did, but I still wonder about the GE people who signed off on this. I wonder if their boss watched it and said, "Why the HELL are they singing about owing their soul to the company store? Don't you know we have a massive FINANCE division? We don't want to REMIND people of the backbreaking debt they are in already. Sure sexy models digging coal is fine, but saying "St. Peter don't cha call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store." is like telling people they shouldn't die until they pay off their debt. OHHHH. Now I get it! You WANT people to feel obligated to pay off their debt, even it it means delaying going to heaven! Good Work Caruthers! "