Gleanings from the Adverts

As I have commented to you all before, ad copy sometimes makes some the best reading around. Let me share some of the more interesting ad copy that I have come across in the last few days.

Thoughtful Words on a Wall

As I was going downtown, I passed the exterior of an upscale home furnishings store. I saw the following bit of ad copy posted in the windows of the three story building:

Rethink

Refresh

Renew

A pretty sound sentiment whether you are talking about redecorating your home or putting your life back on track.

Priorities

In an AT&T magazine ad, very successfull-looking fifty-something fellow sits on a very expensive looking couch in a very well-appointed room. The graying fellow looks out from the page directly at the reader. On the right side of ad about half way up is a piece of paper ripped from a page of music composition paper. The ad copy reads:

The World According to Roger

Find your passion first, job second.

What a great thought.

The Real vs. The Ideal

In the 1990's, AtlanticRichfield Company ran a series of ads which considered major issues in our economy and in our society. In these ads, they contrasted the reality of situations versus the ideal that we are striving to achieve. This particular bit of ad copy dealt with the energy crisis this nation is facing.

The nation faces an energy crisis. Our
natural reservoirs of fossil fuels are more and more difficult to tap. New forms
of producing power are being developed, but will they be ready in time? And will
they solve the problem without creating new ones? But that is not the real
crisis. The real crisis is the human crisis.

The real

We are forgetting how to be human beings.
Power has become an end in itself. Instead of walking, we ride to the store.
Instead of thinking, we ask a computer for answers. Instead of doing, we tell
our machines to mix, brush, talk, write, even scratch for us. We have become a
plugged-in, motorized society.

The ideal

A world in which energy is used to create
power that amplifies our humanness rather than just replacing it.

This ad makes a very timely comment on our current situation. Great food for thought.