An Ad Gone Bad!
This morning I was reading about the odd ad campaign that went way wrong in Boston yesterday. I'm imagining some highly-paid execs sitting around in a board room and someone says, ‘gee, here’s an idea. Let’s put up these signs that light up at night. We’ll put this boxy figure on it and it will give people the finger and that will make them want to see our cartoon show.”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.”
Wow! I know seeing one of them would have made me rush right home and set up my DVR so I wouldn’t miss what promises to be a really neat show! Right.
I especially like what the artist said when questioned about the signs. The reporter said, “he was a little kind of freaked out, by the furor.” He was portrayed as a struggling artist who finally made some money making art. That stuff was art?
Then there are the two guys charged with putting them up or something. I watched a video clip on YouTube of their press conference upon leaving jail. They were talking about hair and when the hippie era began and ended; did the Beatles' bobs extend into the 70s or did that hair style stop at the end of the 60s. (It went into the 70s there, flower child!).
They would only talk about hair and take questions related to hair because their lawyer (standing next to them) had warned them against talking about the charges against them. When asked how he would face the possibility of having to cut his dred locks if he had to go to prison, he answered that was a very good question, but for now his hair is safe. It was funny.
Of course, it’s kind of weird that the 9-1-1 calls started coming in at the same time, according to the story I read. It’s also weird that the signs had been up in the city for two to three weeks. But all of a sudden there’s this huge panic and Boston is closed down. I guess you had to be there. The mayor says people across the nation were worried about their loved ones in Boston. He’s out to sue and charge everyone involved. Anyway, now I understand why my once favorite show ‘Boston Legal’ has gotten so freaky. It must be something in the Boston water.
The whole incident reminded my co-worker and me of the welcome-back we planned for our boss who was returning from a month-long road trip on Rt. 66 in a Ford Mustang convertible. This happened in 2005 and she returned to work sometime in late September. The day before her return we decided to decorate her office. I concocted what I thought was a brilliant idea.
We work in a high-rise building and I placed an enlarged picture of it on poster-size paper. Then I found a picture of a Ford Mustang convertible and a road sign for Route 66. I pasted the Rt. 66 road sign alongside the road I drew in and put the car on the road. Then I put an arrow from the road pointing to the approximate floor of our building. Above the arrow I put the words, “Route 66 ends at the Rhodes Office Tower” (the building where we work).
I put the signs up on her door and two or three in the elevator lobby of our floor so she’d see them first thing the next morning. We wanted to ease her back into the world of work at the same time letting her know that we missed her.
The next morning I came in and the signs were gone. Later, my co-worker came in and told me that because of me she had to go home late and drink alcohol.
Apparently someone on our floor (we all work for the same agency) saw the signs and immediately thought it was warning of a terrorist plot to blow up the building. They called the Highway Patrol who dispatched two of their finest to the floor to investigate. My co-worker just happened to be in the elevator lobby when the OHP appeared and she was questioned about the signs. She told the OHP all about welcoming back our much-loved boss. After he heard the story, he thought it was pretty funny. But he told my co-worker she’d have to remove them because they were causing panic on our floor.
Panic? The officer said they had received numerous calls about the signs.
My co-worker and I were laughing about it again this morning. At least my prank didn't close down the whole city, it just frightened some of our co-workers and gave cause for my co-worker to go home and get drunk. Oh yeah, I guess what really sent her over the edge that day was seeing the cleaning lady take off her blouse while she readjusted something. Oh well --
But we’d both really like to know which of our co-workers are that lame to go from a welcome back sign to the idea that our building will be blown up. No, maybe we don't want to know! The problem is that we probably still work with those people - now there's something to panic about!
Maybe I'm not taking this seriously enough and I wonder about that. Is there something wrong with me? Am I insensitive when I want to tell people to 'get a grip!' I know the world's scary sometimes, but come on people!
Weird... but then, it’s a weird world.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.”
Wow! I know seeing one of them would have made me rush right home and set up my DVR so I wouldn’t miss what promises to be a really neat show! Right.
I especially like what the artist said when questioned about the signs. The reporter said, “he was a little kind of freaked out, by the furor.” He was portrayed as a struggling artist who finally made some money making art. That stuff was art?
Then there are the two guys charged with putting them up or something. I watched a video clip on YouTube of their press conference upon leaving jail. They were talking about hair and when the hippie era began and ended; did the Beatles' bobs extend into the 70s or did that hair style stop at the end of the 60s. (It went into the 70s there, flower child!).
They would only talk about hair and take questions related to hair because their lawyer (standing next to them) had warned them against talking about the charges against them. When asked how he would face the possibility of having to cut his dred locks if he had to go to prison, he answered that was a very good question, but for now his hair is safe. It was funny.
Of course, it’s kind of weird that the 9-1-1 calls started coming in at the same time, according to the story I read. It’s also weird that the signs had been up in the city for two to three weeks. But all of a sudden there’s this huge panic and Boston is closed down. I guess you had to be there. The mayor says people across the nation were worried about their loved ones in Boston. He’s out to sue and charge everyone involved. Anyway, now I understand why my once favorite show ‘Boston Legal’ has gotten so freaky. It must be something in the Boston water.
The whole incident reminded my co-worker and me of the welcome-back we planned for our boss who was returning from a month-long road trip on Rt. 66 in a Ford Mustang convertible. This happened in 2005 and she returned to work sometime in late September. The day before her return we decided to decorate her office. I concocted what I thought was a brilliant idea.
We work in a high-rise building and I placed an enlarged picture of it on poster-size paper. Then I found a picture of a Ford Mustang convertible and a road sign for Route 66. I pasted the Rt. 66 road sign alongside the road I drew in and put the car on the road. Then I put an arrow from the road pointing to the approximate floor of our building. Above the arrow I put the words, “Route 66 ends at the Rhodes Office Tower” (the building where we work).
I put the signs up on her door and two or three in the elevator lobby of our floor so she’d see them first thing the next morning. We wanted to ease her back into the world of work at the same time letting her know that we missed her.
The next morning I came in and the signs were gone. Later, my co-worker came in and told me that because of me she had to go home late and drink alcohol.
Apparently someone on our floor (we all work for the same agency) saw the signs and immediately thought it was warning of a terrorist plot to blow up the building. They called the Highway Patrol who dispatched two of their finest to the floor to investigate. My co-worker just happened to be in the elevator lobby when the OHP appeared and she was questioned about the signs. She told the OHP all about welcoming back our much-loved boss. After he heard the story, he thought it was pretty funny. But he told my co-worker she’d have to remove them because they were causing panic on our floor.
Panic? The officer said they had received numerous calls about the signs.
My co-worker and I were laughing about it again this morning. At least my prank didn't close down the whole city, it just frightened some of our co-workers and gave cause for my co-worker to go home and get drunk. Oh yeah, I guess what really sent her over the edge that day was seeing the cleaning lady take off her blouse while she readjusted something. Oh well --
But we’d both really like to know which of our co-workers are that lame to go from a welcome back sign to the idea that our building will be blown up. No, maybe we don't want to know! The problem is that we probably still work with those people - now there's something to panic about!
Maybe I'm not taking this seriously enough and I wonder about that. Is there something wrong with me? Am I insensitive when I want to tell people to 'get a grip!' I know the world's scary sometimes, but come on people!
Weird... but then, it’s a weird world.
posted by Deborah at 1:58 PM
1 comments
