I remember when I was around the target demographic for these commercials, (young), I read this article in whatever goofy kid's magazine people thought I liked back then, and it turned out the inventor of "Balzac" was a 13 year old girl.
So yeah. 7th/8th grade humor can be marketed. Looking back now, I just can't believe this was allowed to happen. "I bet you can't bust Balzac!"