Category Archives: Advertising

Where the Money Is

Posted in Advertising, Lawyers and Representation by

I don’t know how true it is, but I was told that when Willie Sutton was asked why he held up banks, he replied, “That’s where the money is. “

Recently, I heard a commercial on TV that somewhat reminded me of the Sutton quote. Though the lawyer was approaching it from a more legal approach, I found many similarities. Still it seemed just as selfish.

I the commercial, he assured his potential clients that there was no need to feel sorry about those he would sue. “We only go after those who are insured or have plenty of money. “

Now let me see. That does seem to be parallel to Sutton`s idea. I mean, if you expect the lawyer to represent you, you need to make sure you are going after someone with deep pockets. If you are going to go after some little guy like me, you will need to find another mouthpiece.

Then again, it does sort-of make sense. I mean, if the lawyer’s fee will be 40%, why in the world would he have any desire to go after someone who has little more than pocket change and without insurance. I mean 40% of nothing is still nothing. Leastways, that was the way it was last time I checked.

It does make a person wonder why the commercial. Apparently, the lawyer realized it too. It was the last time I saw the ad.

Well, at least you need credit the guy for truth in advertising.

Me Thinks Someone Turned on the Part C Spigot

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I can’t remember exactly when it is that we started being able to change our Medicare options, but I am pretty sure the insurance companies know. The ads started and they don’t stop; one ad after the next. If I hear, “It’s free,” two more times I will go nuts. I hear the ad on one channel. I change channels and it is over there too.

It would seem to me that one and all is trying to convince me that theirs is the best. One thing I do know. Those that display the ol’ AARP logo can forget it. I will never have anything to do with that outfit after they backed Obama care. That stunt cost me 30,000 dollars, maybe more.

I have my Medicare set up as well as my wife’s. Since then, though I have had several doctor visits and a couple of hospital visits. I haven’t been billed for one of them. All I do is check the EOBs to make sure no one is charging for something I didn’t get. On the other hand, my wife has had to pay a little. Even so, she has had a cataract surgery and will have another without us having to pay a dime.

I don’t think I like that plan C. I have the sneaky suspicion those outfits are trying to separate me from what little retirement I have and I don’t like that. My spidy senses tell me, they more they advertise, the more money is at stake, my money.

Just Wondr’n

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For a few weeks now, I have been seeing an ad on TV picturing a dog and a man with The Statue of Liberty in the background. Something is said about look alikes and I must admit the man and dog do bear resemblances to each other.

The one thing I keep wondering is, which one is most intelligent?

The Good and the Bad

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As some of you may already know, about the only game I play on my computer is free space. I find it a very challenging stimulus for my mind. However, before the more recent versions of windows, they did not have ads between games.

They now give us an option, pay or put up with the ads. I have found ways around the ads but here lately I have been watching them, but not listening. Many of them are very noisy. My dog does not like the noise. For that matter, neither do my wife or I. I found a simple solution. I turned off the sound.

As I look over the ads, I have found many of the ads have some very nice art work, some which I would pay for. Maybe they are missing the boat. They might make good wallpaper or screen savers.

On the other hand, some aren’t so great. I don’t know if you could pay me enough to take one of them. Indeed, I wouldn’t play the game even if I might think I might like it.

If I Were Suddenly a Rich Man

Posted in Advertising, Biden by

To paraphrase the once famous song from “Fiddler on the Roof,” If I were suddenly rich, the first thing I would do is to hand over my cell phone to an aid whose main job would would be to screen my calls.

Besides the inconvenience, it just gets under my skin that people would be able to use my phone for advertising. I mean, on the radio and TV they pay for virtually all programming, not me. Therefore, I do somewhat put up with their ads. (except for the highly repetitious or stupid ones) On the other hand, I pay for my phone. I pay for my air time. The robocallers don’t care. As long as they have one successful call out of a hundred, they are happy.

It is more than an inconvenience. Twice now, when I was visiting my internist, he had to stop to reply to a robocall. That is not just inconvenient but it also digs into his valuable time. He doesn’t have the option of ignoring the calls. The one he ignores just might be an important customer, or maybe the hospital.

Somehow, they found out I am retired. Now they are trying to sell me health insurance…twice a day. For those that might be reading this, don’t waste your time. I already have insurance for my wife and I. Since, we had it, we hardly paid a dime on doctors or hospitals. No need trying to sell anything to me.

One day a fella called, implying that I was under investigation by the FBI. (These guys get very inventive.) FYI: I called the FBI and they said they don’t do things like that. The agent said that if they wanted to talk to me, they would come out to my house. Also, the agent was more than happy that I had the phone number of the the guy that called.

I really don’t know what one thing had to do with the other, but I have never received any more calls like that.

Getting back to my point, it would just really be nice to have someone screen my calls. Also, if Biden were to call me, it would really, really be nice to put him on hold. It would be sort of be like the thousands of calls made for help from Afghanistan while he wonders the halls of The White House trying to figure out where the oval office is.

Also, I would really, really like it if the FBI would make one of those house calls on Fauci.

Orange County Housewives?

Posted in Advertising, Cable TV by

I have seen the show advertised on TV a number of times. I really have no interest in the show or anything like it. However, it did draw my curiosity in one respect, which Orange County?

As a boy grew up in Garden Grove, CA, a city in Orange County. If you check the map, you will find it is just down the road from Disneyland. Then, I noticed a mechanics show on TV, which took place in Orange County. I assumed it was in CA. Surprise, surprise. It was in New York State. I had a hard time wrapping my head around that one. I didn’t know they grew oranges in NY…maybe they don’t I don’t know why the county got its name.

Then one day, quite by accident, I found out that there is an Orange County in FL. That does make sense. They do grow oranges in FL, though they are nowhere near as good as the ones from CA.

Then, about a week ago, I found out there is an Orange County TX. I have no idea if they grow oranges but I suppose the they might. I guess they have the climate for it provided it is not too far north. Oranges are very subject to freezes. One cold winter can kill off all the trees. It doesn’t do the crop any good either.

So now here I am, trying to figure out which Orange County the show is about. Oh by the way, I looked on the internet and there are apparently also Orange Counties in Virginia, Indiana, N.C. and VT. In addition, there is an Orangeburg in South Carolina. I don’t know for sure if I included them all here, but apparently there are nine altogether when Orangeburg is included. That is just almost one tenth of the states. It is over one tenth if you only count the contiguous 48 states.

At any rate, I watched the show for about 15 minutes. I did not find anything that truly told me which of the Orange County housewives they were referring to. There was neither a description in the program nor within the little bit I watched.

I did come up with two conclusions about it. First, it had to be pretty much south as the season was Christmas and no one was was wearing any coats. Second, if you didn’t watch the show, you haven’t missed anything, that is unless you are the type who enjoys watching grass grow.

Home Shield Advertising

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I just saw the advertisement for Home Shield advertising for the ten thousandth time. (I might be off ten or twelve times but who’s counting.)

In the ad they speak of all sorts of things working improperly or not working at all. I find the ad not only ridiculous but downright juvenile as well. I have no plans of paying for repair of products before they break down.

On the other hand, if they are selling the self-powered chairs that can just roll down the sidewalks, I’ll take two. Make that four. My dogs would just love them too,

Wendy’s, Are You Listening?

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I suspect not. It think it would be more likely that Dave would hear me than the staff he left behind.

Just the same, if you are listening, you just lost a customer. I just finished a game of Free Cell and clicked on ‘New Game.’ Almost instantly, without warning, I heard this loud voice accompanying a Wendy’s add. I jumped three or four inches out of my seat. Once I recovered, I muted the sound and waited until the add was done. Learning my lesson, I think I shall mute the sound before clicking on new game again. That really was quite a start and it didn’t do my ears any good either.

Anyone else listening, you might take this as a warning. You pull this one on me and I won’t be your customer either. I will also have a tendency to speak badly of you as well. Maybe it won’t make any measurable difference but I think Dave would be ashamed of this add, especially if it happened to him in his later years.

Shame on you for scaring a man out of two years of his life, especially as I have so few left.

The Inexact Art of Advertising

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I am told that these advertisers on the Web have a way of knowing just what a person might be interested in. As such, they only send ads that might interest me. If that is the way it is supposed to work, it has failed on me. Not only do I have little interest in any of it, my purchasing power is pretty weak. I don’t buy things unless I need to. Occasionally, I do buy things that I want, but that rarely coincides with anything advertised, on the Net or TV.

They keep advertising these games. Other than chess and solitaire, I don’t play games on my computer. I prefer to use it in more productive endeavors. If Microsoft keeps trying to take control of my computer, I just might break out my Atari and put it it work. Oddly it seemed to be able to do most of what I needed and then some. Moreover, I didn’t need to worry about the Chinese or Ruskies trying to look over my shoulder to see what I’m doing… Not that it would do them any good anyway.

I record the programs on TV that I want to see and I have become expert at at fast forwarding. I can watch an hour show in roughly 40 minutes. I know. The advertisers pay a lot of money to put those shows on and I should watch the ads. I don’t see the point it though. They are advertising things I don’t need or want. What good would it do them if I do watch their ads. I have two computers and, truth be told, I don’t need either of them. I can’t buy any new cars. The old 2008 model I have will likely be the last I’ll ever buy, unless it breaks. There is certainly no way I would ever be able to buy a ‘his and hers’ pickup. It would be ridiculous anyway. I only drive but about 60 miles a week anyway.

In my last post, I already mentioned the Medicare garbage they uselessly throw my way. I already have all mine settled. Between Medicare and our aux. insurance, I’ve hardly paid a dime on medical. Considering I’m 73, that’s not too bad.

The ones that really get me are those ads for AARP. They came out in strong support of Obama care and I will never forgive them for that. When I talked to my insurance agent, I told him I wanted nothing to do with any policy that had to do with AARP. He laughed and said it was kind of going around. I suspect that AARP may rue the day they made that choice. Then again, given their politics, they just may not care. (Also, my best guess is that Obama offered a little persuasion.)

Now, let’s see. There is that company that advertises those shipments of meat. Sorry guys. You’ll not get any orders from me. Kroger or Walmart is good enough for me– and I don’t have to wait for it.

As you can imagine, I can go on and on.

Funny… After playing a game of solitaire the other day, I noticed a web ad that said something to the effect that Ford, F150s are less expensive than I think. Okay. It doesn’t hurt to look. Fine. I clicked on it. It took me to a page that had virtually nothing on it except a button with the word ‘go’ on it. That took me to a page advertising Chevrolet pickups. Now I wonder how that happened. Anyway, I have no interest at all in pricing Chevrolets so I immediately left the site and went in and watched advertisements on the TV.

Medicare Season

Posted in Advertising, Deceit, TV Advertisements by

Medicare season is over, I think. During certain times, people on Medicare can make changes. Apparently, every insurance company in the states knows that. Also, they apparently know those who are on Medicare. I generally get a phone call every other day, sometimes two in one day. They all want to tell me how good their system is compared the rest. Sometimes, they don’t do this so well. For them, English is obviously their second or maybe third language.

I would hope no one in their right mind would discuss their medicare with someone who barely understands English. The other day, I had some sinus problems so I took some antihistamines, put my phone on the charger and went to sleep. I was just about dreaming really nice dreams when my phone started making noises. I jumped up, ran to the other room, picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” Afterward, a woman started her spill about her Medicare system. If you think I kept my cool after that, you don’t know me. Then I spent the next half hour going back to sleep. By the way, dreams don’t work like video machines. Not only was I not able to pick up where I left off, I had no dreams at all.

The irritating thing is, I pay for my phone. The advertisers don’t pay one dime to use my phone and yet they get full use of it. To be sure they advertise about their wonderful plans on TV. Through November and half way through December, all station breaks have Medicare ads, sometimes two. On occasions, I’ve seen the same ad twice in a row. Well, at least that is on them. They pay the bill, every bit of it. Do they help me pay for my phone? Forget it.

Then, of course there are the flyers that come in the mail. It ought to be illegal to make a flyer look like official mail. I have to scrutinize each and every one before I toss it. I have a fear the one I toss just might be real. That’s just not right. They do it on purpose. Everyone of the flyers look official as can be. If I were to respond to one, I would not chose any of those who are trying to deceive me.

I think maybe that I will put a special ring on my cell phone for those I want to speak to. The rest can just sit there and let it ring. After a while they just might get the hint. But then I am something of a realist. I’m not holding out much hope.