anthropodenial and flightless creatures

this is [ad]man’s newest attempt to prove that penguins not being able to fly on their own can be made into a pretty good bit of humor that might sell something. the first part is right and probably the second too. this is the always mixed blessing of human's enjoyment of my little flightless friends and other creatures.

check out this official analysis from adweek that manages to 1] use ‘anthropomorphize’ and a bad pun in the same sentence and 2] ignore penguins and humans equal inability to fly on their own. then see if the wikipedia piece seems relevant to you.

The star is cute and this Pepsi spot packs a potent visual punch from start to finish. But why would BBDO choose to anthropomorphize such bird-brained behavior to tout a soft drink in the first place? The tagline, "I can," provides as good an answer as any. This approach makes about as much sense as polar bears pitching Coca-Cola -- but that proved popular, so maybe it's a smart strategy for these beverage behemoths to flock together. --David Gianatasio

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Subjects for anthropomorphism commonly include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse, forces of nature such as winds or the sun, components in games, unseen or unknown sources of chance, etc. Almost anything can be subject to anthropomorphism. The term derives from a combination of the Greek (ánthropos), "human" and (morphe), "shape" or "form".

Humans seem to have an innate capacity to project human characteristics in this way. Evidence from art and artifacts suggests it is a long-held propensity that can be dated back to earliest times. It is strongly associated with the art of storytelling where it also appears to have ancient roots. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behaviour. The use of such literature to draw moral conclusions can be highly complex.

Within these terms, humans have more recently been identified as having an equivalent opposite propensity to deny common traits with other species—most particularly apes—as part of a feeling that humans are unique and special. This tendency has been referred to as Anthropodenial.