Myspace Blog 2

7-18-08 posting from Myspace

This is just a random blog about my thoughts.

I listen to the radio almost all day long while I am at work. Lately there is a radio commercial that has been cracking me up every time I hear it. I understand that probably no one else will find this funny. The sonic commercials are becoming well known for their two guys or guy and girl in a car routine discussing the newest product. The radio commercials introduce an extra character. This extra character advertises specifically to the couple in the car, either two guys or guy/girl. In all the radio commercials the special advertising character is always a stereotypical something.

Now that you have been set up, in the latest sonic radio AD the guy/girl combo are enjoying the new sausage biscuit dippers, when a stereotypical TV salesperson starts in with "hello folks, this is Jeff Frank Steve Stuart here to tell you about the amazing new Sonic Sausage Biscuit Dippers." The guy in the commercial says something like, "oh Sonic must have hired a stereotypical TV salesperson," when the girl interjects, "hush I trying to hear what Jeff Frank Steve Stuart has to say." This is the funniest part. First, that the stereotypical TV salesperson has only first names for all FOUR parts of his name, and secondly the female character is mesmerized by the salesperson and has instantaneously remembered the four first nondescript names named salesman. This is hilarious to me.

The next commercial that has been on my mind is a commercial issued by the Catholic Coalition of Bishops or something like that. The commercial emphasizes marriage and what it takes to make it last. The commercial begins with "What have you done for your marriage today?" It is followed by real testimonies of individuals and what they do for their spouse. They range from took the kids out so the wife could have a day to herself to "wow, I have no idea what I've done for my marriage." Because it is supposedly real audio from street interviews I am constantly amazed by the tone the voice carries. The ones that haven't done anything for their marriage often sound like they just realized how stupid they've been for not doing anything. On the other side, those that have done something for their spouse always sound hopeful for years to come or confident in their marriage.

When I am listening to this commercial, I always am reminded that something like 50% of first marriages end in divorce and 60% of second marriages for one spouse end in divorce, and still again 77% of third marriages end in divorce. With these statistics, I wonder how many of those people on the commercial will be divorced. However, while I am not doctrinally aligned with the Catholics I am glad that there are large campaigns fighting against divorce, by emphasizing that marriages take work and intentional acts of love to make them work.