Do you remember that classic Saturday Night Live skit Pumping Up featuring Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon as Hans and Franz?
“I am Hans.” “Und I am Franz.” “Und ve just vant to pump… (clap) …YOU UP!”
In these popular sketches which spoofed Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carvey and Nealon played a pair of muscle-bound Austrian jocks. With padding for fake muscles, drab gray sweatsuits, weight belts, and hilariously bad Austrian accents, the two SNL comedians denigrated others for not being as strong and physically “fit” as they were. They referred to non-muscle-bound men as “girlie men”, a phrase that entered the pop culture lexicon thanks to the sketch:
“Poor little girlie man alone in his girlie house!!”
To demonstrate their own incredible manhood, the pair would strike bodybuilder poses to show off their “muscled” bodies, complete with strained facial expressions. They finally received their just deserts when Arnold Schwarzenegger himself made a guest appearance on the show, flexing his own steriod enhanced muscles and ridiculing “his cousins” for being girlie and weak.
As the only male on the Matchmaker Logistics team, I didn’t expect my co-workers would challenge my admission in last week’s Thought for the Weekend: I don’t wear pink. But within minutes of posting my weekly email, our CIO (Chief Instigating Officer), Mary, had thrown down the gauntlet. Not only did she and our newest team member, Jennifer, send a photo from the Alabama office with the two of them both wearing pink hats, they also issued a challenge.
Mary challenged me to change our Matchmaker Logistics Facebook profile to a photo of me, dressed in pink. If I didn’t accept her dare, I knew I risked a Hans and Franz-like officewide reputation of “girlie man”. To prove my manhood, I accepted the challenge on one condition: for every person who likes our Facebook page between now and the end of October, we would donate $2 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
“Should we put a limit on this?”, I asked our team, imagining the photo of me clad in pink creating a viral internet sensation. I’d love to donate as much as $2000 to the cause, but what if half a million people ‘liked’ my photo? Where would I come up with funds to honor my pledge to support breast cancer research? After all, more than 700,000 people had viewed this 13-second clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger with Hans and Franz….
In true Hans and Franz fashion, they replied to my visions of grandeur. “Hear us now und believe us later…you won’t go viral like Arnold!” Well, “Pummela pummela pummela pummela pummela!” and color me pink.
If you’d like to see me wearing pink, help make a $2 donation to a worthy cause, and restore my slighty bruised ego, please “Like” our Matchmaker Logistics page on Facebook by clicking here.
Flex your ‘giving’ muscles this weekend,
~Bob
The fine print: Until October 31, 2012, Matchmaker will donate $2 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every “LIKE” on our company Facebook page. Our donation will cap at $2000.00.
