Local Ads

There is a universal rule that local business ads are always terrible. I’m sure of it. Today I was reminded of this when I saw a Jim Dandy truck drive by. My jaw dropped, and I wasn’t able to scramble for my cell phone fast enough to take a photo. Jim Dandy is some sort of plumbing business. What made my mouth hang open was a cartoony graphic on the doors of the truck. A side view of a person sitting on a toilet, with his pants down around his ankles was on the door. The graphic was drawn to make it look like the driver was tooling around town while sitting on a toilet. Sans pants. Creepy, creepy, creepy! A different plumbing company has a cartoon character on the side of its van. “Poopy the Plunger” is an upside-down plunger, wearing boots on little legs, and gloves on his cartoon hands. He has big googley eyes and a toothy smile. I don’t remember the name of the business, so maybe Poopy hasn’t done his job. At least he makes me smile, and doesn’t creep me out (are you listening Jim Dandy???). One more plumbing business inexplicably has a photo of lady on its vans. She is pretty, has big hair and even bigger breasts. What does a tight sweater have to do with plumbing? Obviously, the buxom lady on the truck is for the benefit of all the males out there trolling for a really good, hopefully hot, plumber. On TV the worst local ad is for Stop Bugging Me, a pest control company. The hero of the TV ad is a guy in tights and a cape. For some strange reason, SBP guy also wears a Bluetooth in his ear. Is he going to take calls during the commercial? I would assume if there were such a thing as a super hero, he wouldn’t need to be linked to a cell phone. Besides, where in his tights would he keep it? All these businesses have ads or logos that are memorable. Not for their high-quality services, but for the intense annoyance factor. Is that good enough? You got me...