Political Advertisements

I was playing Words with Friends tonight. Often, when I do, I am subjected to seeing various advertisements.  Tonight, many of the advertisements were very vitriolic attacks on Beto O'Rourke  by Senator Ted Cruz.  This made me almost want to stop playing Words with Friends, but really, I usually do not pay attention to the advertisements, anyway.  However, the caustic vitriol of these advertisements indicated to me that Sen. Cruz is very desperate in his attempt to be re-elected.  He must be very concerned by the challenge being made by Beto O'Rourke. 

I hate it when politicians sink to such low, demeaning vitriol against their opponents.  There are so many issues that need to be explored in campaigns, that personal attacks are unnecessary and a symptom of the negative character of the person who is approving those advertisements. 

Gillette - An Aha Moment

I grew up in Western Massachusetts, and we received our TV broadcasts out of Boston, Ma. and Hartford, Ct. back in the 1960/s. My dad liked to watch sports, baseball and some boxing.  Many of the sporting events were sponsored by Gillette.  I guess it never dawn on me that was because Gillette was headquartered out of Boston. 

Had I thought about it, that would have made sense why the New England Patriots play out of the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

I just never thought about it until I saw the recent Gillette ad  about an employee in their Boston factory.   

Good job Gillette!

The Declaration of Independence

The Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.com/ advertising people came up with a very interesting item for the Fourth of July 2017.  They replicated John Trumbull's painting "Declaration of Independence" http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/Trumbull.html for the advertisement http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/powerful-new-ad-features-multiethnic-descendants-of-americas-founding-fathers_us_59564da7e4b05c37bb7dc3ea.  They used the multi-ethnic descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence to recreate the picture.  So is this a cheesey stunt, or is this an advertisement that can teach us something about ourselves and our country? Definitely it is an advertising platform for Ancestry.com to promote using its genealogy and DNA identification services. Is there something wrong with self-promotion while teaching us something?  Who in this world is so altruistic that they never expect to get something back for doing something good?  Sure, people might do the right thing altruistically but I suspect most people do the right thing because of some other motive, even if it is because their religion tells them to do the right thing, and they want to follow the tenets of their religion for the related benefits, including idealistic or spiritual benefits.

We let the The Walt Disney Company https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/ invite us to "The Magic Kingdom" without criticizing them for making a profit on our pleasure.  We let the Coca-Cola Corporation http://www.coca-colacompany.com/ "Teach the World to Sing" and did not criticize them. Let's face it, advertising is advertising.  Why do you think all the major corporations get involved with all the altruistic activities they do: Foundations, fundraising benefits, national promotions of charities. Some of it may be for good, but much of it, such as the special uniforms for special events developed by Under Armour https://www.underarmour.com/en-us, are also about brand recognition and sales.  Don't deceive yourself. 

Advertising

I know that the point of advertising is to get a message across regarding how good, useful, special, etc. a product or service is.  So, of course, the advertisement focuses on the positive, and glosses over the negative, maybe even to the point of misrepresenting something.

I expect that.  But why would you purchase something that admittedly is pitched in an advertisement that admits to lying.  Two companies come to mind.

Jack-in-the-Box https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwij2u3QxufNAhWJWCYKHeZgC-EQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FJack_in_the_Box&psig=AFQjCNH-l2UsN3Jde5a7gXGgqtFugGXmdA&ust=1468193867489342 has an advertisement about the origin of a new sandwich, which is a re-issue of an old sandwich, the butter melt.

You know the advertisement I am referring to:  Jack tells the story of seeing a cowboy cooking this sandwich meat in a fire on the wide open plain.  And, at the end, Jack admits he made up the story because it was more interesting than the truth.  So, if he admits to lying about that, what else is he lying about?

Another company whose advertising absolutely mystifies me for it deceptiveness is Kentucky Fried Chicken, now commonly called KFC https://www.kfc.com/.  We all know that the original Colonel died.  But they brought out an impersonator, a very good look alike, who pretended to be the original Colonel.  Until well into the advertising campaign, when the look alike hinted he was not the real Colonel.  And now, they have another imposter, who does not really even look like the Colonel, even in his make up. Come on, KFC,  who are you trying to fool? That is just deceitfulness.  So, if you are lying in your advertising, why would I trust your food products?  The answer is that I would not. Just saying.

Campbell's Advertisement

So, I am very bad about not watching advertisements. Tonight, I was watching Stephen Colbert http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/.  He did a piece on a Campbell's soup advertisement http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/newsroom/news/2015/10/05/campbells-new-portfolio-advertising-campaign-celebrates-real-life-moments/.  Specifically, he showed the advertisement of a gay couple feeding their son Star Wars Soup.  This advertisement was being protested by One Million Moms http://onemillionmoms.com/. 

Colbert made the point that if the One Million Moms group had not made such a big deal about the ad, most of the rest of us would not have thought much about it.  On the other hand, now Campbell's is getting free advertising, and the One Million Moms group are looking like the haters they are! 

SPRINT Discount - Huh!

So, back in the spring, I found a SPRINT http://www.sprint.com/?INTNAV=LeftNav:Logo#!/ discount opportunity.  As an employee of Texas Tech Health Sciences Center http://ttuhsc.edu/ I qualified for a discount from SPRINT.  I am still qualified and  eligible for the discount, but the plan I chose is not eligible for the discount.  That is a SHAM and a CROCK.  What deceitful advertising that is. 

Except for a few glitches, I have been generally satisfied with SPRINT.  But this is now glitch number 3.  How many glitches do I put up with?  I don't know. Most people who talk about their cell phone services also have glitches, and several people I know pay much more than I do for monthly service.

So, I feel like I am at the mercy of my cell phone plan.   Oh well. It is what I chose. And I chose it knowing what it is.