Ads so clever that the product is forgotten
The Old Men of the Mountain’s basically, first meal of the day, although some may sneak a cup of coffee and piece of toast really early in the morning, was at Mrs. K’s in Middleburgh on Jan. 13.
The routine of many of the OFs is taking pills before meals so that group of OFs has to take those things with a sip of water before heading out. That doesn’t count though as a pre-breakfast snack.
Sometimes it feels like the OFs need a brief course in chemistry just to follow the instructions on how to take some of their medications.
The OFs, as everyone knows, were once YFs and when, as one of the YFs, many of the job opportunities that have been around since 2000 were not around at that time, some not even thought of. The OFs were talking about marketing and advertising in an indirect way.
The table this scribe was at was television ads and those in them. Sometimes, the OFs thought the commercials were better than the shows they are sponsoring.
One OF thought some of the ads are so clever that whatever the product in the commercial is supposed to be for is not even remembered. The spokespeople for some of the products are more remembered than movie stars and politicians.
The OGs thought of Flo in the Progressive ads, the Liberty guy with the emu, the girl for Curtis Lumber who used to do Raymor and Flannigan, the girl in the Toyota ads, the Gecko for Geico, the Aflac duck, as well as the mayhem guy for Allstate.
There are some others, but the point is given about acting or working for an advertising agency that works with marketing people of many companies large and small. One OF in a conversation with his wife said she thought about how long some of these people have been spokespersons that they must be grandmothers and grandfathers by now.
The OF said she added that we should give accolades out to the makeup artist because these spokespeople still look young to her. This prompted this OF to check out to see what these people made or are worth and for some it is in the millions.
Nice paying job opportunities that were not around when the OFs were YFs. Who would have thunk-it.
Tattoos and nose rings
One of the topics that came up, as far as the column is concerned by this scribe, appears to be redundant and that is tattoos. Across the street from Mrs. K’s and down towards the creek, about 500 feet, is a tattoo studio.
From the seat the OF had who brought it up, this OF was able to read the sign in the window (which, by the way, is nicely done) and is a good indication this is not a match-heated needle and India ink operation.
The OFs thought, to go along with advertising and marketing positions, another one that should be great in the coming generations is that of a dermatologist. One OF thought there is going to be a shortage of this type of doctor because of all the tattoos.
Some getting infected, others being removed because some jerk had Mary tattooed on his chest and he married Jane. Another OF said as far as he can tell the ladies are no slouch in the tattoo game either, it might just as well be Joe on one boob, Sam on the other, but she married Alfonso.
The ladies sprout these tattoos as much as the men, and one OF said, “Yeah, but guys equal it out by wearing earrings.”
Another form of cutting the cord, one OF thought, is getting the nose pierced for a nose ring. What in the world for? thought the OFs.
What do you do when you sneeze, and a booger hangs from the ring, or how do you even blow your nose with that thing in the way? One OG added a touch of humor to the conversation by interjecting that the ring might be a good way to stop from picking your nose, because half the time your finger would get stuck in the ring.
All the OFs did to rebel in their younger years was to get a duck-style hair cut. Well, not just that — we did other things, an OF mentioned, like rolling a pack of cigarettes in the sleeve of a T-shirt.
One OF said he had a friend who did not smoke and cut a block of wood the size of a pack of cigarettes and rolled that in his sleeve just to look cool.
This scribe thought when we are young, just to fit in, we are going to figure out some way to die at an early age. Years’ past, it was either with the cigarettes, and now it seems to be tats or drugs or both.
What’s next? Ah, really it’s only a bunch of OFs yakking but there sure is a lot of “been there-done that” in this group.
The guys in this bunch of “been there-done that” group who showed up at Mrs. K’s in Middleburgh were: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Will Lichliter, George Washburn, Jamey Darrah, Frank Fuss, Joe Rack, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Rich Albertin, Roger Shafer, Frank Dees, Chuck Batcher, Warren Willsey, Marty Herzog, Herb Bahrmann, Jerry Cross, Jack Norray, John Jazz, Lou Schenck, Bob Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, Dave Hodgetts, Allan DeFazzo, John Dab, Paul Guiton, and me, and God made us as pretty as we are, we don’t need no tattoos although many of the OFs have them, and some of the tats are now just black blobs.