Not many commercials are eye-catching enough in the middle of a sitcom, but I need write something in English. Let me talk about two tricky ads that I recently saw on TV.
The first one is Quiznos Sub's ad for its Prime Rib Cheesesteak, which could be found here (Windows Media). Basically it compares itself (perhaps exaggeratedly but I'm just not sure) with Subway's cheesesteak. I find it amusing as it reminds me of my happy kindergarten life. This is straight and simple (Quiznos is definitely not the first to use this strategy, though), and I am not saying it is bad. It is just, you know, funny. Look at those people in the ad.
Yet the more amusing part is the slogan "If you're not 100% satisfied, you'll get a free sub." It sounds so confident that people tend to think its quality is guaranteed. But wait, a free sub? If I am not 100% satisfied, why would I bother to get another free sub? Perhaps I prefer my money back. Oh, what if you are only not 100% satisfied about one particular sub and want a change? But it is no longer attractive as it sounds. Maybe it means I could buy two subs at one price. Well, check my experiences to cancel services in the U.S. to see what is waiting for me when I actually do something guaranteed by but unfavorable to the business operators. And if I intend to buy two subs, this does not sound like I am not 100% satisfied, right?
So there is another ad by match.com, a dating site. Its website slogan is something like "if you don't meet someone special within six months, you'll get six months free." Wow, sounds great? Most of us might think the latter "six months" refer to the former "six months" so that one either finds someone or does not have to pay. But it actually means "six [additional] months" if you click "learn more" twice on their website (it seems that the TV slogan clearly includes the "additional"). [EDIT: No. The TV version is the same.] Anyway, "six months free" equal to money back but "six additional months free" mean nothing. You could still pay and fail to find someone special. The slogan does not even imply any sense of half price because dating service is different from Internet service for which every minute counts. Rather, it means any customer pays the regular price for 12 months and if he or she finds someone special within the first six months the service for the next six months is terminated. I know this interpretation could be weakened, but this is how I find the ad tricky.
6 comments:
In the online dating ad, "six months free" could be seen as a pun, implying that by not being able to get someone within six months, you will have had those six months "free" as a happy bachelor, spinster, or anything in between.
As to the Quiznos ad, "you'll get a sub free" presumably involves a subtle attack on Subway, if you read "sub" not as a generic reference, but a specific, albeit unostentatious, reference to SUBway - at least that was my first impression when I first saw the ad last week.
Vive la linguistica!
As to the online dating ad, I thought it was a pun at first. But I don't think "to be a happy bachelor or spinster" is what the dating agent wants us to be. So, maybe the ad only refers to the fee.
BTW, it is funnny to point out "or anything in between". There must be some huge challenges for traditional dating agents. HaHa :>
well, if you're disabled u have it pretty tough in the dating game but there are specialist dating sites for disabled people
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