Commercials

I don't know why I'm so into commercials and pointing out their flaws lately, but I am. They don't call it "Truth in Advertising" for nothing.

#1: Saw a commercial on tv a few weeks ago for an insurance company (don't remember which co.). Anyway, like all insr co. commercials, they were talking about the benefits of having a great insr co and rep, and what they can do for you to help you out when accidents or potential threats happen. And, of course, there was an analogy: A banana peel on the sidewalk. And being the idiotic ad people they are, the insr co. puts up an orange construction cone next to the banana peel so that you can avoid it. Isn't that a typical modern attitude? Rather than fix the problem (picking up the banana peel and throwing it away, helping someone actually solve a problem), they just bureaucratically point out that there is a problem but don't really do anything about it. Argh! I wouldn't want that insr co. It's not a very good analogy, in my opinion, because although it pointed out that they would try to warn you of danger, all I could focus on was what did they DO about it? What would they do for you when you wanted to get an insr check to get your car repaired? "Oh, well here's the envelope where the check should be with check enclosed written on it, but we can't really do anything, so there's nothing inside..." But that very well could just be me. (yes, yes, another bad analogy, but I'm not in advertising, nor am I being paid to come up with that.)

On to #2: While listening to the Gopher game on the radio on Saturday (dreadful rodents next door carried home the axe - and I'm still upset about it), I heard a commercial for e-harmony.com. I don't believe I personally know anyone who has tried such a service. However, I highly doubt many of my friends or acquaintances would want to after listening to this particular advertisement. They had some woman on who was trying to highlight the benefits of eharmony (or however it's spelled). Her last comment was to the effect of, "It's great for lazy people," as in, I-don't-want-to-read-through-everyone's-personal-ad-but-would-rather-have-someone/something-else-do-it-for-me. Fine. However, how does that really come across? To me (and yes, I do take words to mean strange things sometimes), it came across as "I am a lazy person." This is not necessarily bad, because even I admit I can be lazy. However, doesn't this also point out that all the other people doing the same thing are lazy? And that therefore if I found someone else to date that he/she, too, would be a lazy person? Why would I want to find a lazy person (or another lazy person, since I, too, would be one by using the service) to date? Who in their right mind says, "You know, I think I'll go find me a lazy person to date and eventually marry him/her?" No one. No one admits this to themselves, let alone a radio audience. I understood what she was trying to say, but it just came across all wrong. I do not believe I'll use eharmony to go find me a bum who is lazy - I could just do that on the street corner in downtown Minneapolis.

#3: This has to do with Christmas. I have walked through many a store in the past week (including my little adventure to Mall of America, where great H & M deals were found by Emily and me), and have seen all the Christmas and Holiday decorations on display for purchase. It's not even Halloween! What's with this nutso commercialism of such a great holiday, that even Halloween (let alone Thanksgiving), another commercialized holiday beloved by the party/costume/candy industry, has been swallowed whole? Well, I saw another ad last week. This one for a cruise line - again, don't remember which cruise line, but it's the one that uses "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" as their theme song (and now it's complete with jingle bells, which I admit, is not altogether bad). I noticed that it's obviously a Christmas commercial, but not really, because although there is a gold-wrapped, red-beribboned boat being carried around in the snow, complete with jingle-bells in the background, the word Christmas is never mentioned. It's all about 'finding the perfect gift' and 'holiday' or some such nonsense. And I realized something: why not extend the holiday-formerly-known-as-Christmas if it's not really Christmas anymore? Who cares if it's contained to the month of December? It's not Politically Correct to mention Christmas; instead it's Winter Solstice or Holiday Event or Snow Celebration or whatever. Therefore, since it's no longer Christmas, why can't it be a year-long celebration? It no longer matters when it's celebrated, and thus it can seep into July for all the commercialists and Politically Correct people care (only it wouldn't be "Christmas in July" any more - it'd be "Winter Adventure in July", but since that wouldn't mean much to those in the southern hemisphere (since it is winter in the southern hemisphere in July), it would be changed to "Winter Adventure in the Seventh Month of the Year" or something similarly ridiculous, only to be eventually replaced so as to not offend those who do not celebrate their New Year with us January Firsters; it can't even be called "Winter Adventure in Summer" because again, that might offend, or at least mean nothing to, those Southern Hemisphere residents). I'm telling you, "Year-long Party" is going to become a holiday at some point - unless we who value holidays for their true meanings keep the messages and traditions going. Who's with me?

Well, I, for one, do not plan on going on some "Holiday Cruise" with some lazy man I met on e-harmony using the $$$ I get from some insr company after tripping over their red construction cone.