Ever notice how your brain gets a little bit excited and stupid whenever you hear the phrase? Like a quick injection of Metal Gear anticipation that makes you want to enjoy whatever comes next? Maybe that’s because we’ve been conditioned to associate it with our favorite memories and products, and now it’s being used to condition us as consumers to act like excitable children at the drop of a hat. Ravi Singh talks about how badly the phrase has been abused in the new article, “Kept You Waiting, Huh?” is a Corporate Meme.
Personally, I’m a cynical guy, and I’m aware of corporate social engineering, the co-opting of youth culture, viral marketing, and so on. Hell, I still think about how badly the “Now THAT’S how an assassin operates…!” phrase failed to catch on, with the Peace Walker cross-promotion with Assassin’s Creed:
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – Assassin’s Creed
I think this is one of the worst examples of trying to force feed Metal Gear fans a meme. As the beginning of the video says, it was created for “rampant internet consumption”, complete with a big exclamation mark (!) and uses lazy repetition to try to make people go crazy for the novelty of a straw box that you can use to beat up guards with.
The cardboard box is even more iconic than “Kept you waiting, huh?” and we all know that Kojima is hyper-aware of its status in the gaming world thanks to the explosion of box-related items announced for The Phantom Pain not long ago. It’s much like how diving into a bunch of hay is iconic to Assassin’s Creed. So to make a collaboration combining these to elements is kind of funny and amusing, I’ll admit; but when you see a 6 minute video jamming the “meme” into culture it just feels gross. Almost as gross as Kojima and the dude from Assassin’s Creed wearing masks and sneezing, because GET IT, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE “VIRAL MARKETING”. So now we’re viral marketing a running gag about how it’s a viral marketing video? How internet-savvy and meta. Oh and Kojima throws out “Didju rike it?” at the end, following by Kaz repeating “Now THAT’S how an assassin operates” just for good measure.
I really enjoyed Ravi’s article on the “Kept you waiting” corporate meme, and I recommend checking it out.