In school I took French, so I avoid Spanish classes. But when it's the whole Spanish department out...
Student called me over. With trepidation I approached. But I was pretty sure it wasn't a Spanish question. And it wasn't.
"How can taste be soft?"
Huh?
The boy showed me what prompted the question. His water bottle. Fiji water. The tag line: "The soft taste of solid rock."
For about a minute I tried to come up with some logical reply. But then I realized that we were dealing with marketing. Advertising.
Most commercials nowadays make no sense to me. So why would the tag line of this water?
I said something to the effect of marketing department trying to brand their water.
The boy turned to his friend. "I'm right." Because that's what boys do.
I walked away. There was no point in arguing. I don't think the friend believed he won the argument anyway.
Well, the boy did take out his Spanish book after. Success? (I can't say he got anything accomplished, though.)
Have you ever declared victory over an argument that there was no right or wrong to? How can taste be soft? Do commercials make sense to you nowadays (or am I the only befuddled one)?
Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...
I think that some of the most clever individuals in our society are employed in commercials. Many fall flat, but some are pure brilliance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michael--some are confusing, but others? Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall a brilliant one. Have one to recommend?
DeleteI like your crocheted A :) So true about advertising; that was interesting for him to catch it at his age and then thinking he won the argument. Makes you wonder what his career will be down the road!
ReplyDeletebetty
Actually, the A is knit. Stay tuned. I have one for each letter (and make sure to stop by on G day...)
DeleteMost of them don't make sense. Like the Mt. Dew commercial where the singer explodes. I don't want to drink it if that's what it will do to me.
ReplyDeleteAds don't seem to make sense (like red bull). My hubby often thinks he is right and I tell him "If I agree with you then we would both be wrong". Love the knitting of A-great to use what you made
ReplyDeleteThe soft taste of solid rock...sounds like something one of my teen boys would make up! I do love those Superbowl Doritos commercials. Am I right??!
ReplyDeleteSuperbowl commercials? What's a Superbowl?
DeleteThe language advertisers use is interesting. We don't always know what exactly they mean, but there are some phrases that remains in our memory.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase 'soft taste' may have been chosen so that we may wonder what it means. The longer we think about the phrase, the better we remember it along with the name of the product...
I guess that's the point, right?
DeleteYes, some of these are confusing, but I'm with you, no point in arguing. They are not about making sense, but about immediate shock value.
ReplyDeleteYes! Shock value. That's it!
DeleteYour A is so cute! Advertising (and corporate speak) make absolutely no sense. Way back when I could never understand why smoking a cigarette would let you "come to Marlboro country". I'm not up to date with most current ads since anything I watch on TV is DVR'd, etc. and I just turn the page in magazines.
ReplyDeleteI especially can’t tolerate the talking cow commercial. You know the one where the cow is giving the toast at a human wedding. I have no idea which product they are pushing…probably milk, I guess. Anyway that’s just one example of how dumb these ads are. They are insulting.
ReplyDeleteI like your knitted A.
Pretty wise kid! I think maybe advertisers don't really think things through.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteDang it! I hate when that happens^^^ Anyhow, most of the advertising done today makes no sense to me. But when I like one then I always remember the product. So I guess that good advertising works for me.
ReplyDeleteSmidgen Snippets & Bits
I guess that's the point, right?
DeleteI've seen couches advertised as being scrumptious! I've never tasted one so I wouldn't know.
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteInteresting topic!
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteRegarding right or wrong conclusions, as long as you include arguments with the spouse then heck yeah. I'm always right.
ReplyDeleteSome commercials leave me befuddled as to what their point is. What testing did they do with actual people to get to the nod to go ahead and buy a spot on TV? Beats me.
Some adverts really bug me, which I guess is probably the point because they get people talking about them and that way they're getting free advertising. You're mentioning this on here where a bunch of people who've probably never seen that before will be made aware of their slogan.
ReplyDeleteThere's one at the moment on TV which has a bunch of kittens coming out of a pack of biscuits. I have no idea what it's supposed to be about but I know if I bought those biscuits and didn't get a free kitten I'd be really disappointed.
I think that's why they are so nonsensical. Has to be.
Delete