Is it just me or ...

I think I'm officially a curmudgeon ... the other evening I saw an ad for Cheerios Banana Nut cereal and was struck by the absolute absurdity of the tag line ... after hyping that it has the same nutritional value as the original cereal, and convincing the viewer that it was/is a cereal we must absolutely have, the commercial tossed out what I think is one of the most innane lines I've ever heard in commercials.

The voice over said "with the real taste of bananas" !!!

That caused me pause ... since childhood, I've frequently sliced up a banana on my morning cereal for an added something ... it's simple, easy and tasty.

But when I heard this line in the commercial I couldn't help but wonder two things:

First off, how lazy have we become that we can't slice up a FRESH banana on our cereal in the morning, but have to rely on a process banana puree to provide us with the 'fresh banana' flavour??

And secondly, (which may be why this cereal is needed) is the demographic of this cereal people of ALL ages who have yet to master the intricacies and safe usage of the common kitchen knife? Is General Mills marketing this cereal to the lowest common denominator in our society - those who can't safely use a kitchen knife or who are perplexed by peeling a banana in the first place, and are thus reduced to processed cereal to obtain the taste of 'fresh bananas'?

I know this is not really a big deal, but to my thinking (call me a cynic if you like), it is a symptom of what ails our modern culture ... laziness, stupidity and the blind obedience to the consumerist culture ... As for me, I'll continue to risk life and limb by peeling and slicing up a banana on my bowl of breakfast cereal with my 'deadly' kitchen knife !!!

Hmmmm ... interesting ... Stella Artois and the CBC logo ...

This is the iconic CBC logo,

sometimes called an exploding pizza,

but regardless of what it is called,

it has graced the CBC for nearly 40 years,

having been created in 1974 and used extensively since.

Tonight on CBC's As It Happens,

they picked up the story about beer maker

Stella Artois "borrowing" the logo

for its advertising campaign:

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,

I guess borrowing an iconic logo borders on imitation.

for more check out some of the links below:

Martini Boys article

TorontoMike's article

Have you Driven a Ford Lately ???

Somebody in the Ford Headquarters missed the ball on this one ...

In Friday's edition of the Winnipeg Free Press there were not one - BUT several stories about the result of car thefts in the Winnipeg area ... one story chronicled the death of a man who was run down by two idiots joy riding in a stolen SUV ... and now Ford, with the sub-title "Built for life in Manitoba" advertises in the SAME edition of the newspaper in the city that is fast becoming one of the car theft capitals of Canada with an featuring the words "Drive it like you STOLE IT !!!"

Have the ad execs for Ford LOST THIER FLIPPIN' MINDS ????

This is way beyond offensive ... it runs hard into just plain stupid !!

Nice one Ford!! Makes me kinda glad we traded our old Aerostar in on a Toyota ... atleast common sense prevailed in Oakville today and the ad has been pulled ... but not before the damage was done:

Click here to read the CBC Manitoba story.