Since I got a TiVo, I think I've seen maybe five commercials total that weren't broadcast during the Super Bowl. But tonight, I happened to watching a show in just-a-little-bit-too-close-to-real-time, and caught up with the live broadcast before it was over.
I caught this ad for these new, giant Ziploc bags. The commercial shows someone zipping up a bunch of sports equipment inside and carrying it off. At this image, a couple of thoughts came to me.
First, was there something wrong with duffel bags? Were people really disappointed that they couldn't share their stanky gym clothes with the rest of the world via a transparent plastic? Is our society so anti-conservation that we had to find some way to turn a perfectly acceptable, reusable product into a disposable one?
Second, how long do you give it before we hear the story of some little kid (about six years old) zipping up his baby sister inside one of these things and accidentally suffocating her to death? Ordinarily, my comment for this sort of thing would be "didn't that come up in playtesting?" In this case, though, I'm guessing somebody probably did think of this, and I fully expect there's some bit of legalize on the product packaging warning against this sort of thing (and, of course, insulating the company from lawsuits in such matters).
Yellow and blue makes green... then blue... then purple...
2 comments:
I have grown weary of advertising that caters to our wasteful culture. Petroleum doesn't grow on trees, people!
I'm trying to decide if the gym clothes you refer to are supposed to be "stinky" or "skanky". Or maybe you've just coined a new portmanteau word.
Anyway... I can certainly think of some legitimate uses for a giant Ziploc bag. Anything that you might have stored in a garbage bag for want of a sturdier alternative. Extra pillows or blankets in the closet. Oversized prints, photos, or other artwork. I think I'm going to get me some of those bags. They sound like a good alternative to storing some kinds of stuff in Rubbermaid tote boxes. Note that I'm not looking on these as disposable or for use as a duffle-bag substitute; I'm assuming they're heavy-duty enough to use long-term for storage.
Oh, and BTW, I took a look on their website and prominently displayed on the page about the big bags was this disclaimer:
"*Warning: Keep bags out of reach of children. These bags are not toys. To avoid danger of suffocation, keep plastic bags away from babies and children. Not recommended for use in microwave."
So yeah, it definitely came up in playtesting. Though I have to say that the juxtaposition of warnings about suffocating babies and using in the microwave is a bit unnerving.
dujph
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