The Sam-I-Am Organization
The first illustration following the title page is a top-hatted little guy riding on the back of a dog-like animal holding up a sign reading “I am Sam.” The next illustrations spans two pages and feature a much bigger top-hatted guy sitting in a chair trying to read the paper while just the very back of Sam is seen—but almost the entirety of his sign. Turning the page reveals another two-fold span in which Sam is heading back from the direction he just existed, but now his sign says “Sam I am.” The imagery here immediately calls to mind the act of any pleasurable act being constantly interrupted by commercials. Sam has just succeeded in branding himself with his name, recalling so many other narcissistic salesman who used their name to brand their company and then shoved that brand name down the throats of consumers.
TV Commercials
More than perhaps any other Dr. Seuss, the illustrations in Green Eggs and Ham convey a sense of movement. Every illustration spans two pages and fill up the page, leaving very few examples of black text on white space. An astonishing number of illustrations depict actions constantly moving from left to right which creates continuity from one drawing to the next. Because of the repetition of the language and Sam’s incessant attempt to sell the big guy on his product, the effect is ultimately one that replicates a television commercial.
Green Eggs, Green Ham
At no point in the text is there any indication that the big guy rejects Sam’s product because he does not like ham and eggs. Therefore, the natural expectation is that he is rejecting the food because it is not the color he expects. In other words, before he finds out that it is delicious, he rejects it because it looks, well, yucky. The imagery here is essential to why the book went on to become the best-selling in the Seuss canon. The big guy’s rejection replicates the rejection of millions of children of food that look yucky and Sam’s refusal to try to get him to eat it replicates the efforts of millions of parents in response. More than any other of his stories, this is the most universal Seuss of them all.
Seuss Sees the Future
The book is also quite prescient as Dr. Seuss predicts the future of marketing and advertising. Green Eggs and Ham was written at a time when product advertising was based upon a simple and effective concept: tells potential buyers what it is and what it does. Since then, of course, the world of marketing has changed dramatically to the point that some advertisements do not even show the product at all and precious few even bother to show what a product does. Sam-I-Am attempts to sell the idea of eating green eggs and ham by asking the big guy if he would eat them in a box or with a fox (accompanies by appropriate visual imagery not dissimilar to print advertisement, billboards or commercials), just two of many scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with taste, which is fundamental selling point of food. Or, at least, it was back then.
