Gender advertising

Oldie but goodie by Mitchell and Webb.

Oddvertising

AdWeek has just published its 10 Funniest Commercials of All Time.

I hadn't seen most of them before. Most involve people doing stupid things. And none of them made me laugh.

All of which is probably proof that I am not an American! Lol.

The end of the word is nigh!

As a copywriter, I'm often asked what I think about txt spk. I've always said it's OK as another language, but not a replacement language. It's not (yet) appropriate in academic writing or business writing. But, language is continually evolving, the word 'innit' is in the OED, and – just as we don't write now how we wrote 100 years ago – we won't write in 100 years the way we write now.

Ladies and gentlemen, as the logo above shows, the shift has already begun.

I saw it in an ad on the back of a bus, to advise 16- to 24-year-olds about chlamydia. As soon as the 16 to 24s are old enough to influence mainstream media, I suspect we'll all be writing 'ur' for 'your' and no-one will have time any more for us old fogeys who know about 'proper' spelling and grammar.

#TimeToGoOutToGrass?

World's best 404?

Credit where credit's due

I recently leased a new car. I shopped around various websites online and different local garages offline.

There was one place where the salesman didn't give me a hard sell.

I bought the car.

He talked me through how everything worked, and phoned me after a couple of weeks to see if it was all OK.

It was.

After a couple of months, the headrest of the driver's seat got stuck against the sun visor and pulled it off.

The girl who answered the phone was friendly and helpful.

Their service team were fabulous and arranged a repair within days, under warranty.

Their engineer fixed it within minutes, using a plastic sheet on the seat and protective paper on the floor.

Meanwhile, the salesman spotted me in their waiting area, recognised me, and offered me tea or coffee.

Who is this paragon of virtue? WJ King Bromley.

After a lifetime of unfortunate experiences with car dealers, I am happy to recommend them.

Missing a trick?

I keep seeing this ad on the back of buses, and wondering if there is another version, with the text and image in blue, with a female face and the word 'Upset' instead of 'Angry'. It seems not. At least, not yet.

The 'angry' website

When my first car* was stolen years ago, I remember more tears than tantrums.

*Red 'Coke bottle' Cortina Mark 111, since you ask.