Tuesday, April 27, 2010

One Man's Question

This is one man’s question to all the hot, young ad guys who are creating and approving all those very cool, very hip beer spots we’re seeing on TV. You’ve never put your teenage son or daughter in a car with their friends on a Friday or Saturday night...have you? I’m pretty sure I’m right on this because most of you are too young to have kids old enough to be going out on the weekends. Someday though, it will be your turn. And maybe then you’ll give some thought to the messages you’ve been sending our children. Because you’ll be the ones holding your breath until you hear the sound of the car pulling back in the driveway. It will be your hearts that leap out of your chests when the phone rings late at night. It will be your turn to attend a funeral that should never have happened. Because, unfortunately, the young consumers you’re influencing with your award winning creative are not downing your product for the choice hops or the sparkling clean water. They’re drinking it for the buzz, guys. And you know that...don’t you? So, this is a question about judgment. Yours. And I think you’ll understand this question much better when it’s your turn to watch your own child get into a car full of friends on a Friday night.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hey...How are you?

What if everyone who said...”Hey, how are you?”...really wanted to know. It would be a different world wouldn’t it? “Not bad.”...could no longer be the standard response if the asker really cared about the askee. There would be follow up questions. “Are you getting enough sleep?” “Are you regular?” People would be late for work because of time spent describing the little gas problem, probably from those frozen burrito supremos, that kept waking them up during the night. Or...
“Hey, how are you?”
“Well, since you’ve asked, I’m quite concerned about my stock portfolio actually.”
And there goes dinner.
Maybe it would be nice though. I mean, everyone likes a sympathetic ear to tell their troubles to. But then again, wouldn’t too many extended outpourings about chronic heat rashes, concerns over whether to go satellite or cable and the heartache of unrequited office romances tend to slow down the national economy? In the end, it’s probably better that we’re the shallow, superficial society that we are.
“Hey, how are you?”
“Not bad.”
And that’s it.
We get a lot more done this way.