Linda Clark-Borre
B-o-r-i-n-g…Is There Anything Worse?
10/19/2012 13:47
There is a commercial for a bank running now that features a hapless young man being told by his woman that she is breaking up with him because he is boring.
So he gets this bank’s credit card, and cool things happen immediately. He has fun all in all sorts of places, e.g. at expensive art galleries where he views ART with a glazed expression – or is it awestruck? He parties, he goes to concerts and even has his photo taken with a Star.
He may end up in serious debt, but no longer is he boring.
This morning in the TV market where I live—which is, by the way, pretty boring-- this commercial was immediately followed by another. This one featured a couple of people and a bag of potato chips labeled BORING. This is no doubt even worse than the Brand X of the past.
Of course, these yawn-inspiring chips were snatched from the hands of the, you guessed it, boring person holding them, to be replaced by a name brand snack product handed over by someone who looked exciting. We are left to assume that popularity and a meaningful life ensues for the one who exchanged those flat chips.
Honestly. If we find ourselves, or if others find us boring, is this the best we can do? Review our stock of major experiences and our pantries?
I hope people don’t actually fall for this kind of messaging. But the fact that companies spend mega-bucks to air these slices of phony life suggests that it’s effective. Plenty of people do look for fun and meaning in branded products that are really trouble in some form, dressed up as a life dream come true.
It may cost us some tread wear on our tires before we realize how really wrong that thinking is, but unfortunately here in the abundant U.S. that sort of message is still out there- and we seem to keep buying it.
—————