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One of today's most irritating advertising clichés shows young executives somewhere in vacation Paradise, cheerfully doing their work on slender laptop computers. The models even manage to look as if they are enjoying themselves. Whatever assignments they are working on, they are obviously a deep source of satisfaction. No matter where they are, tropical beach or beside a lake on a dock, they are always alone in the sunshine and at peace with the world. How many things are wrong with this picture?
First, of course, with the sun shining, they would never be able to see the screen without leaning forward in the deck chair, shading their eyes with one hand and squinting like pirates.
Second, where are the extension cords? It is a certainty that if they have been working more than half an hour, they are beginning to run low on power.
And finally, why are they working when they have obviously traveled a long distance and spent a great deal of money to find a setting of such natural beauty? Clearly, these are people who would bake a soufflé to use as a foot-stool.
The companies that make laptops go to a lot of trouble to make them physically lighter and easy to carry. One day wireless communication from a portable computer will be a practical reality. Until that day comes, the advertising should focus more on what the products can do and not on what they can't. And they can't make work seem like fun.
There is a more realistic commercial running on North American TV, this one about cellular telephones. Again, people are on holiday but when the phones start ringing, every single person throws their cell phone in the lake. That's a vacation.
Please email contributions, comments and suggestions to:
enter_to_exit@cbltech.com
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