Foto Friday: Billboard

I saw this billboard yesterday and I had to stop  and take a picture of it. (Actually, I had to park, cross the street in the rain, and stand there like an idiot taking a picture of it).

Is it just me or does this ad bother you?

I can’t help but think it’s from Smart Tan or a similar organization.   If so, I’m appalled that they’re using the pink ribbon to promote their cause.  Now, if  the message was just “Vitamin D helps decrease your risk,” I’d have no problem with it.  But the fact that they say “from the sun and tanning beds” makes me a bit suspect.

I’m all for Breast Cancer Awareness month, but why use it to promote your own cause?   And isn’t this kind of like trading one cancer for another?  I realize skin cancer is less deadly, but still.

What do you all think?

My own personal Soup

I’m a big fan of The Soup on E!  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s Joel McHale, maybe it’s because I’m a pop culture junkie.  Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because the shit they talk about is usually the same (or similar) shit I think about on a daily basis.

I’ve always said that my ideal career is to be a travel writer, but now I’m thinking it would be a writer for The Soup.  I’ve also spent quite a bit of quality couch time this weekend, so I actually have some good material. If I were writing for the Soup this week, I would talk about:

Groomer Has It– there’s a reality TV show on Animal Planet about dog groomers.  Yep, that’s right.  It’s like someone saw the success of competition-based reality shows and decided to pitch something to the Animal Planet. I can just imagine the pitch meeting now: “It’s like Project Runway meets Meerkat Manor.”  Crazy.  There were even people talking about “razor skills” and “scissor” skills… much like knife skills on Top Chef.  The contestants live in a DOG HOUSE and are competing to be on the cover of a professional grooming magazine.  To each their own, I guess.  I watched it twice.  Once for the WTF factor and another time because there was literally nothing but infomercials on at 3 am.

Those Charmin commercials– Okay, it’s bad enough that they’re playing on the whole “does a bear shit in the woods” controversy by featuring cartoon bears as their “spokespeople,” but the most recent batch of commercials deals with Charmin’s apparent superiority over other brands of toilet paper because it leaves fewer “pieces” behind.   Okay, I realize that this kind of thing happens.  But do we really need to hear about it in a commercial?  Did their market research tell them that the reason someone chooses Quilted Northern over Charmin has something to do with getting TP stuck to your ass???   If so, who was the marketing genius who decided that having a bear dust off his ass on TV is gonna make me want to buy something?  Seriously!

“Going Green” makes me want to puke!

I am soooooooo sick of the “Going Green” fad right now.   Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the principle behind it.  I just don’t like the trendiness of it.

I’m not exactly a tree-hugger, but I recycle.  I have florescent light bulbs in my house, even though they make me look like a ghost.  I have a non-motorized lawn mower, which results in LOTS of funny looks and laughs from my friends.  I’m considering getting one of those re-usable cloth bags for my groceries.  I started quietly using recycled paper on my big projects at work, nearly a year before our leadership decided to make it a priority.  

But when I see a WAL-MART commercial encouraging people to buy GE light bulbs, it sends me over the edge.

On one hand, I commend Wal-mart for trying to encourage energy consumption.  On the other hand, I can’t help but think it’s just some sort of co-marketing agreement between Wal-mart and GE to help sell more light bulbs. 

Even worse, I’m sick of the “go paperless” messages in my bills.  Especially from the power company.   “Save a stamp, save a tree by paying online.”  Okay, fine.  I prefer to pay bills online.  But, the POWER company is going to tell me how to save the planet?  REALLY?

I’m all for being responsible when it comes to the environment. I just don’t like Big Business to tell me how to do it.  If Wal-mart gets more people to care about the environment, great.  But if they’re just doing it to sell light bulbs, it offends my liberal sensibilities.   

 

Cognitive dissonance at its best.