Insert Your Favorite Simpsons Catch Phrase Here

A field trip may soon be in order. In a reverse-out of product placement, 7-Eleven is refitting 11 of its stores in a somewhat ambitious cross-promotion with The Simpsons Movie. They're making them into Kwik-E-Marts. Now, 11 isn't very many, and they're not really scattered equally around the country (or continent, as the case may be). But fortunately for me (and those readers who live somewhat near me), there is one in Chicago. It's on the other side of town, though, so you can't have everything.

I have to admit that I'm uncomfortably eager to like this idea. I feel like a sucker, reeled in by the advertisers, playing right into their hands. And yet . . . I want a box of KrustyO's. I'd like to have a can of Buzz Cola. (Actually, I'd like a can of Duff Beer, but they didn't make any of that in keeping with the PG-13 rating of the movie. I don't actually want to drink a Duff Beer--if they were true to the show, I bet it would taste like Coors Light or something, but the can would look nice on a bookshelf.) I'm not sure from the Website whether these products will be available at all 7-Elevens or just the Kwik-E-Mart ones, so I may go to a closer 7-Eleven just to see, but regardless, I'll be heading out to the local Kwik-E-Mart before too long.

The more I think about it, though, the more I can convince myself that I'm not just being duped by the clever ad agencies. I'll go into 7-Eleven to look for the various Simpsons products, and I'll drive across town to see the actual Kwik-E-Mart, but I can't imagine that after this is all over I'll have any more occasion to shop at 7-Eleven than I do right now. Take that consumer culture!