I thought the strip mall story was a bit cruel, mocking the soullessness of suburbs filled with chain stores. Some of the joke is the absurdity that cheap pet food could justify the inconvenience of strip malls covering everything. Suburbs have always been a favorite punching bag of the Onion. I found you covering "Family of Five found in suburbs" while looking for my favorite of the genre:
The strip mall article also has some of the jokes from contrasting the new tourist attraction with Wall Drug and the actual Mall of America. Both are retail outlets in the middle of nowhere, but are culturally significant enough to be a worthwhile tourist attraction. It'd be absurd to visit Iowa for a strip mall pep boys, but Wall Drug is a campy icon that's referenced in prestige movies.
"Pledge Drives of the Ancient Mayans" is amusing! As is the idea of Disney suing 78% of Americans, which still seems relevant today.
I thought the strip mall story was a bit cruel, mocking the soullessness of suburbs filled with chain stores. Some of the joke is the absurdity that cheap pet food could justify the inconvenience of strip malls covering everything. Suburbs have always been a favorite punching bag of the Onion. I found you covering "Family of Five found in suburbs" while looking for my favorite of the genre:
https://www.theonion.com/couple-takes-weekend-trip-outside-city-to-get-away-from-1841691914
The strip mall article also has some of the jokes from contrasting the new tourist attraction with Wall Drug and the actual Mall of America. Both are retail outlets in the middle of nowhere, but are culturally significant enough to be a worthwhile tourist attraction. It'd be absurd to visit Iowa for a strip mall pep boys, but Wall Drug is a campy icon that's referenced in prestige movies.