This could end up a VERY long list, as I find myself less and less tolerant of stupid things seemingly every day. But you've gotta start somewhere, right?
(And yes, I'm well aware that 'ending a sentence in a preposition' could well be on other peoples "tired of" lists, but "Things of which I am Tired" simply wasn't going to do it for me. But that's a discussion for a whole 'nother post.)
There's an annoying trend I've noticed lately in radio advertising, which I 'affectionately' refer to as "idiot advertising". It's the kind of ad campaign where the 'spokesperson' or main character or what have you is obviously an idiot, and the real reply to every question he (inevitably it's a male asking the moronic questions) should be "you're an idiot. Hang up now and stop wasting my time."
A recent airline ad featured a guy calling up to ask about the 'extra leg room' the airline offered on its flights. His question: "If I don't have an extra leg, can I use the space for something else?" (I'm paraphrasing here, but the "extra leg" nonsense is the key to this one.) The airline rep on the other line of the call is, of course, tolerant to a fault and explains to our poor moron what, exactly, extra leg room refers to.
Then there are the Disney ads, promoting their two-for-one offer (buy a day, get another day free.) This time, our moron calls everyone from a nail salon (admittedly, perhaps, not the most absurd place to ask this question) to a fine art store, looking for, of course, 2-for-1 offers on Picasso.
But my 'favorite' lately has to be the Heineken "Moving Mountains" ad campaign. "Have you heard the phrase 'moving mountains'? What a dumb idea… we shouldn't be moving mountains, we should be doing our best NOT to move mountains or damage the world. Or maybe we should be moving mountains of trash!"
I think I find that last one most annoying, since it's not only coming from the literal/idiot point of view, but it's trying to be PC and environmentally conscious while shilling for Heineken, for Christ's sake!
Are we all now so f'ing stupid that we have to take everything literally? Or is it just advertising agencies that find it all SO amusing. I understand the notion that annoying ad campaigns are not necessarily BAD ad campaigns, the idea being that anything that gets your attention is viable. Carl's Jr. has obviously run with that notion, and while I try not to support companies whose ad campaigns I find truly annoying, I'm not 100% on that, and I'm sure I'm in the minority even attempting that.
But these fall into a different category than annoying 'look how sloppy our burgers are" Carl's Jr ads, or creepy Burger King "King" commercials. Aren't we supposed to identify ourselves with the people in commercials? Isn't that the driving notion… we show you, in 30 seconds, how to make your world better, with the commercials 'protagonist' standing in for us, showing us how to make our world that much better? (This, at least, is what I learned in the commercial workshops I took years ago.)
If that's the case, then sorry, I don't want to identify with the idiot you've hired. I've gotta figure, if he can't understand a concept like 'extra leg room' or 'moving mountains', I don't want anything to do with him or whatever he's shilling.
But then, maybe now I'm being too literal.
(And yes, I'm well aware that 'ending a sentence in a preposition' could well be on other peoples "tired of" lists, but "Things of which I am Tired" simply wasn't going to do it for me. But that's a discussion for a whole 'nother post.)
There's an annoying trend I've noticed lately in radio advertising, which I 'affectionately' refer to as "idiot advertising". It's the kind of ad campaign where the 'spokesperson' or main character or what have you is obviously an idiot, and the real reply to every question he (inevitably it's a male asking the moronic questions) should be "you're an idiot. Hang up now and stop wasting my time."
A recent airline ad featured a guy calling up to ask about the 'extra leg room' the airline offered on its flights. His question: "If I don't have an extra leg, can I use the space for something else?" (I'm paraphrasing here, but the "extra leg" nonsense is the key to this one.) The airline rep on the other line of the call is, of course, tolerant to a fault and explains to our poor moron what, exactly, extra leg room refers to.
Then there are the Disney ads, promoting their two-for-one offer (buy a day, get another day free.) This time, our moron calls everyone from a nail salon (admittedly, perhaps, not the most absurd place to ask this question) to a fine art store, looking for, of course, 2-for-1 offers on Picasso.
But my 'favorite' lately has to be the Heineken "Moving Mountains" ad campaign. "Have you heard the phrase 'moving mountains'? What a dumb idea… we shouldn't be moving mountains, we should be doing our best NOT to move mountains or damage the world. Or maybe we should be moving mountains of trash!"
I think I find that last one most annoying, since it's not only coming from the literal/idiot point of view, but it's trying to be PC and environmentally conscious while shilling for Heineken, for Christ's sake!
Are we all now so f'ing stupid that we have to take everything literally? Or is it just advertising agencies that find it all SO amusing. I understand the notion that annoying ad campaigns are not necessarily BAD ad campaigns, the idea being that anything that gets your attention is viable. Carl's Jr. has obviously run with that notion, and while I try not to support companies whose ad campaigns I find truly annoying, I'm not 100% on that, and I'm sure I'm in the minority even attempting that.
But these fall into a different category than annoying 'look how sloppy our burgers are" Carl's Jr ads, or creepy Burger King "King" commercials. Aren't we supposed to identify ourselves with the people in commercials? Isn't that the driving notion… we show you, in 30 seconds, how to make your world better, with the commercials 'protagonist' standing in for us, showing us how to make our world that much better? (This, at least, is what I learned in the commercial workshops I took years ago.)
If that's the case, then sorry, I don't want to identify with the idiot you've hired. I've gotta figure, if he can't understand a concept like 'extra leg room' or 'moving mountains', I don't want anything to do with him or whatever he's shilling.
But then, maybe now I'm being too literal.
Comments
That Heineken ad is the worst.
How are you enjoying WoW?
WoW's been fun, but I'm definitely at the point where I'm going to need to start socializing if I'm going to do anything more interesting than FedEx quests. I've got a human mage and an undead warlock, and the soloing is getting old.