It is hard to believe, but it is November already.  Today is Sunday, November 3.  Did you remember to fall back an hour?  There are only 52 days until Christmas.  Get those fruitcakes in the oven!  It is the birthday of William Cullen Bryant, Vilohjalmur Stefansson and Michael Dukakis.  Today, in 1762, Spain acquired Louisiana, in 1868 John W. Menard of Louisiana, became the first black elected to Congress and in 1952 Clarence Birdseye marketed frozen peas.  It is Culture Day in Japan, Independence Day in Panama and Father of Texas Day in Texas (of all places).

I know that I have complained about this in the past, but I have to be honest – I am really getting tired of commercials, in general, and insurance company commercials in particular.  Let’s look at some of the more ridiculous commercials we have seen. 

There is one for soup that shows two people sky diving, tethered.  The one person just happens to have a can of soup with her and says how much she likes the bold flavor.  He says he loves bold flavors and she says she would love it if he would open the ‘chute.  My first problem with this is that there is nothing in the commercial that connects soup to sky diving, so there is no sense to the scenario. 

 

My next question is why did she bring a can of soup with her when jumping out of an airplane?  Did she think to bring a microwave to cook it?  Did she feel she needed the additional weight because having a guy strapped to her might not be enough?  The part that bothers me the most is that a group of people thought that was a good commercial and pitched it to the soup company.  The soup company agreed and bought the commercial.  The worst part is that all these people are making a good deal of money and this is the best they can do. 

 

Another series of commercials that make me shake my head in disbelief are the ones for colognes.  Whether the cologne is for a male or a female, they make no sense.  You can tell as soon as one comes on that it is for cologne.  One I remember has a guy purported to be a sailor; however, he would never make it in any navy I have ever seen.  You see him putting on his hat and walking out a door and then the cologne name appears.  Is this cologne that appeals to the fake sailor market?  Is it something that is only sold at Halloween?  Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I just think that the commercials should make some kind of connection to the product being sold.

The most annoying commercials are the ones put out by three insurance companies.  You all know the ones I mean.  Frankly, I have been tired of Flo for quite some time now (I think since her first appearance), but they keep pushing her at us.  If they are trying for annoying, they have hit the nail on the head, but I think they are trying for humor and it is not working.  I cannot believe that they feel this is the best way to sell their product.

Another company uses a lizard, a talking pig and a number of other equally annoying things to sell their insurance.  If you have to resort to that kind of stuff, one has to wonder what is wrong with the insurance policies you are trying to foist off on us.  The final one uses a cartoon army officer with a penguin sidekick to convince me that I should buy their insurance.  He is shown playing soccer, baseball and a number of other sports that have nothing to do with driving as a way of selling auto insurance.  They advertise that you can get an anonymous quote on-line.  They then show a guy with a bag over his head on the computer.  If he is at home on the computer, why does he need a bag over his head?  Can this company see who you are when you log onto their site? 

I suppose I have gone on long enough, but I wanted to get this out of my system before we go into the holiday season and start enjoying Santa riding down the hill on a razor head and talking reindeer selling things.  I cannot wait to see what the Christmas season commercials will be like.  I am sure they will be amusing, thought-provoking, pithy and full of thought.  Just kidding.

Normally I do not get into politics, but I thought I might make a statement here about the upcoming election for governor in our state.  I have decided to vote for the challenger.  According to the commercials the incumbent has been putting out, the challenger has far more power than he does.  The incumbent would have us believe that she, alone, is responsible for all the tax increases, legislative pay raises and changes in the way education is handled.  That is the kind of person I want as governor.  Someone who can do all that without anyone else being involved is the type of powerhouse we need.  That’s all I have to say about that.

This week’s fact tells us that 10,000 Dutch cows pass through the Amsterdam airport each year.  Where are they going?  Are they all cows or are there bulls, too?  Are they catching flights or just on a tour of some kind?  This is one of those things that makes you go h-m-m-m.  Have a good week.