In this post I shall attempt to slake your thirst for my opinions on the most mundane of matters through three brief advertising/shopping related discussions. Or maybe I just didn't have anything else to talk about so you're getting a bunch of junk that poured out of my head. It's a glass half-full/half-empty thing.
I've never been a big fan of changing the name of products, but when a company changes the name of similar products, making it hard to tell the difference between them, it is very frustrating. For years, if I wanted to buy a container of the lower fat Pringles1, I knew that they were labelled as "Right Crisps." Was it a stupid name? Sure, but I knew what they were, and the name was always the same. Now there are Pringles labelled as "Light" and Pringles labelled as "Smart Flavors". One of these is the reduced fat version and the other is the "fat-free" olestra-containing version. If they aren't going to stick with one name, they should at least make it clear on the packaging whether or not you are buying the version that causes anal leakage.
The Wendy's commercials about "Threeconomics" bother me. The entire set of commercials bothers me because threeconomics is a stupid-sounding non-word. However, one commercial in particular really irritates me. It goes something like this:
[scrippet]
INT. BREAK ROOM - DAY
Three GUYS are sitting around the table eating SANDWICHES from Wendy's.
GUY 1
I'm going to use this Jr. bacon cheeseburger, crispy chicken and double stack to explain to you the basic principles of Threeconomics.
Guy 1 reaches across the table and takes the sandwiches from Guy 2 and Guy 3.
GUY 1
Supply.
Guy 2 reaches to take his sandwich.
GUY 2
Can I have my doubl-
GUY 1
(Pushing Guy 2's hand away)
Demand.
[/scrippet]
Clearly this commercial works only because the guy getting his burger stolen isn't a fat guy2. If that were the case, the commercial would go more like this:
[scrippet]
INT. BREAK ROOM - DAY
Three GUYS are sitting around the table eating SANDWICHES from Wendy's.
GUY 1
I'm going to use this Jr. bacon cheeseburger, crispy chicken and double stack to explain to you the basic principles of 3conomics.
Guy 1 reaches across the table and takes the sandwiches from Guy 2 and Guy 3.
GUY 1
Supply.
GUY 2
What are you doing?
GUY 1
Demonstrating demand.
Guy 2 reaches over the table, punches Guy 1 and takes the sandwiches.
GUY 2
Hostile takeover.
[/scrippet]
My favorite thing about commercials now is that just about every one has the phrase "these days" or "in the current economy" while talking about how much you will save if you use their product. Do they enjoy trying to scare and/or depress people or do they really think people don't know that anything is going on3? I guess that's a possibility. It's not like it's been mentioned on the news, every TV show, ads, and articles as well as every other conversation that people have had with friends or coworkers.
1 Shut it.
2 I'm allowed to say that because I'm talking about my people. Unless you're one of us, you can't.
3 I know. They don't really enjoy it; they're just trying to use everyone's problems and fears to sell their product and who are we to criticize them for it.
