Internet Ads for The Ages
There's a longish list in my head of internet ads I see pretty much every day that I sorta wish would just go away. On it are the LowerMyBills.com "Jive-Dancing Woman in Gray Pantsuit"...
...and the out-of-season "Jive-Dancing Santa..."
...and the "Jive-Dancing Alien"...
...and, well, really any iteration of the LowerMyBills.com "Jive-Dancing" avatar.
Also, not a big fan of cleft palate porn here...
... even for a good cause. Sorry.
And those little shooting galleries, or the interactive LasikPlus ad where you try to help the drunk dude put his contacts in...
... or the one where you "TICKLE THE FAT KID Till he BARFS!"...
(couldn't resist).
But as distracting , tacky and tasteless as some of these ads are — and obviously strive to be — one I've been seeing lately on Boston.com is far worse:
Who came up this bright idea?
I mean, here's a hospital that was rocked in the not-too distant past by a highly publicized sexual harassment scandal that forced its top doctor right out the door. And here they've settled on a campaign that lures you in by mimicking Match.com?...
Now, that's just wrong.
Eesh...well, the Catholic hierarchy's never been too good at being aware and sensitive about sexual matters...you know, because that only happens between married people. One man and one woman married people. Everything else is just hysteria and anti-Catholic bigotry. Just ask Ray Flynn.
The cleft palate kids are all over the T and commuter rail, too...eeeah. Marketingwise, I think I'd feel more inclined to give if there were a little 'before' picture and a big 'after' picture...kinda like those ones for more elective plastic surgery...Americans being optimists/liking happy outcomes...even the Sally Struthers people get that one.
If it's any consolation, however, to combine both themes - could be worse. I live in a highly culturally-Catholic part of town, and, for four months, had the world's most hideous 8-foot-tall baby-head staring in my windows from the lighted billboard across the street: an anti-abortion ad...they shoulda picked a prettier kid.
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