« Ad-Rant
Who reigns? Another Ad-Rant
I know I'm not the only one on these blogs who tends to pick up on mistakes, whether factual, grammatical or spelling. I try and restrain myself from posting every time because after all, these are quick reflections of people's thoughts and it is easy enough to make a mistake if you don't have time to re-read your post & polish it up. But I don't think it is too much to ask that someone who spends a lot (or even just a little bit) of money on an advertisement should take the time to get it right.
Several times recently I have seen a (maybe local?) TV ad for BMW in which they want to puff off the fact that they've won some "car of the year" trophy or whatever for 17 years by comparing it to some shorter-reigned monarchs like Henry V. But the first thing they do is put up text saying "Joan of Arc reigned for less than a year". Excuse me, what?!? This is some strange Queen Joan I've never heard of then, is it? Because even though I don't remember much about the Maid of Orleans from school, I'm very sure that she was never crowned, never wanted the throne, never thought about grabbing the throne and was never proposed as a possible candidate for the throne. In fact the most famous tale about her I remember is the one about her recognising the Dauphin - the future KING - in his court when he hid amongst the courtiers. [You can check out The Simpsons version of the tale, if you don't believe me).
Of course, I suppose you could argue that "never" is "less than a year", so in that sense Joan reigned for "less than a year", but then again so did I, Lisa Simpson, President Bush, Joe Bloggs and almost anyone else you'd care to mention.
Is it really too much to ask that someone putting together an advert spends just a little time and thought checking to be sure they have got their facts right?
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Apr 24, 2008 7:15 PM
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Do you know the name of the song from that commercial? I've been looking for it and hearing it everywhere, but I can't find the name of it or who it's by!
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Jun 18, 2008 1:35 AM
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