apropos of anything

Part the first
At lunch today we discussed various advertising campaigns — the ones that have stuck with us (man driving the Jetta to stop his ex’s wedding) and the ones that have not (obviously I don’t remember any of them). As good as the commercials were, though, I don’t know that any of them actually influenced me to buy the product. Never once while Coca-Cola taught the world to sing did I feel the need to buy a Coke; I buy Coke because Pepsi is poison that slowly rots your insides and eventually makes you do crazy things like watch Jerry Springer incessantly. Also, Pepsi hired Britney Spears to represent them, which can only mean the marketing people have been chugging a little too much of their own product.

	Do these cute and cuddly polar bears make me want to buy Coke? Not really. Some people see them, though, and have a mad desire to rush out right then and buy out the nearest grocery store.

Obviously, commercials must make an impression on people because otherwise there would be no point in having them except to entertain us during the Super Bowl. However. I really have to say that I can’t think of a single purchasing decision that was made based on how much I liked a commercial. If I’m at Publix trying to decide between Brawny and Bounty, the quicker-picker-upper jingle might run through my head, but I’m eventually going to pick the cheaper one, especially since I don’t see myself ever falling in love with one particular brand of paper towel. Or, if I’m deciding between shaving creams (which would actually never happen as I always get the same one because there’s only one brand that doesn’t leave me smelling vaguely like a man — not that there’s anything wrong with smelling like a man if you are a man, but as I am not one, I’d rather not, thanks), I’m not going to choose based on my feelings towards the commercial with the bandaged synchronized swimmers.

Do people really do otherwise? Apparently they must, as I once read an article (no link, sorry) about how Coke and Pepsi don’t really have a product, so they sell image. For both these companies, advertising drives the bulk of the sales. And, to repeat an earlier point, corporations wouldn’t spend millions of dollars on advertising each year if it didn’t have a significant impact on consumer spending. I also remember reading that Budweiser sales went up after the Wazzzzzzzup! commercials, so perhaps I am just weird that I don’t really pay much attention.

Part the second
It’s beautiful outside, y’all. I don’t know how long it will last, with Ivan making his disastrous way up here (as a side note, I now regret laughing when my dad called on Monday to make sure I knew what to do in case we got hit by a hurricane; I doubt Ivan will still be a hurricane by the time he arrives, but he’ll still be stronger than your average raincloud), but for the moment, it’s so NICE outside. I want to take my laptop up to the outdoor seating at the employee cafeteria and work from there. I won’t, of course, for many reasons, not the least of which being that secondhand smoke makes me gag, but I still want to. ‘Cause it’s pretty and temperate. So pretty in fact, that it almost hurts.

I love fall.

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