"Stoner chic"?

I can't help but wonder if the reality-challenged folks are going to be the next hip thing, based on two adverts running in heavy rotation here. (No, I'm not going to go YouTubin' for them. You can do a search on "Jack in the Box stoner ad" and "Denny's 2-4-6-8 ad" if you want).

The first ad is for Denny's. Two scruffy guys are sitting at the counter figuring out ways that they can divvy up their $10 on the various "cheap" menu items. Diners around them all suggest different combinations, until one of the guys makes the "head exploding" gesture.

Okay, okay, I know: even someone as square as I am knows that Denny's is a favorite late-night haunt of those for whom weed is not something you pull out of your tomato patch. But it creeps me out a little to see Denny's seemingly embracing that...I suppose the next run of ads will feature crabby old people wanting dinner at 4:30 pm.

Then there's the Jack in the Box ad, with the guy at the DRIVE THROUGH. Yes. Stoned and at the drive through. Nice.

Stoner guy drives up, wants 99 tacos for 2 cents. The minimum-wage employee behind the microphone says they don't have it. Stoner guy argues. (I suppose it's a good thing it wasn't meth-head guy; he would have just punched through the wall to confront the person directly). Finally, the Jack figurine "talks" to the guy and explains it's 2 tacos for 99 cents, not 99 for 2 cents. "Wow....that's even LESS." (I guess pot interferes with your math skills?)

I don't know. I realize I'm a big prude and an overly-straight straight arrow, but it bugs me to see a guy who is acting like he's supposed to be stoned in a drive-through window. (Though I will say, I've never known the jack-in-the-box ads to suffer from an excess of good taste; there's one that essentially implies Jack's parents use an ED medication).

I don't know. I don't eat at Jack in the box partly because their food isn't very healthful, but also because the commercials creep me out. (And I haven't eaten at a Denny's in years, though I will admit if you're on a long-haul car trip and you need to stop for a meal at an odd time - like, you were driving across the "nowhere" expanse of Nebraska between 8 am and 2 pm and you really need some lunch, a Denny's is usually an OK bet).

It's just, I don't know, "Eat here because the stoners do" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.