I see it differently
I'm having a hard time following the specific criticism of the advert.
Greenberg said:
This commercial ad is sending the message that it is better to choose MSN over RL.
But maybe that's because it reminds me of a bit from
The Mark Steel Revolution:
In this program, I will be arguing that the Sexual Revolution was about much more than increasing your chances of getting off with the art student after a David Bowie gig. In fact, it was about changing the world in a great many ways, one of the least important of which was sex. The world it sprang from was the world of the fifties and sixties. So, for example, for the older girl, there was a book called In Search of Charm, by Mary Young, published in 1962, which advised teenage girls on how to behave with young men:
Keep pace with what's going on by reading the headlines and the important articles in the daily newspapers. I knew a girl who traveled regularly from Tonbridge to London, and one morning on her usual train, she met an extremely nice young man. She was delighted when he struck up a conversation. But when he said, "Wasn't that a terrible disaster last night?" she just sat there thinking, Terrible disaster? But she had no clue. Do you see?
(Mark Steel Revolution #102)
Subprime interest rates? The weekend weather? The future of the Kyoto treaty? The origin of the word "sassafras"? These are all questions he could have answered if he got his information via MSN, as opposed to newspapers, ESPN, books, or other diversions from reality. It's easier, after all, to use MSN, or something like that.
To the other, Steel delivers a pretty good punch line on that one twelve minutes later:
There may have only been a minority of the population reading Oz and Liberating Masturbation, but the trends were affecting everybody. Now polite society went mad. They'd say things like, "Do you know, I saw a student walking along today? He had hair down to his knees and a great big, bushy beard. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman!"
And to realize quite how extraordinary how all of this must have seemed, you've just got to remember it was only six years since In Search of Charm, which was never likely to say:
Do remember to read the important parts of modern books. I knew a girl who traveled regularly from Tonbridge to London, and one morning on her usual train, and was delighted when a nice young man struck up a conversation, until he remarked, "Isn't it fascinating about masturbation being so liberating?" Masturbation liberating? she thought. But she didn't have a clue. Do you see?
(ibid)
Anyway, that's how the MSN spot strikes me. It's kind of a
Something About Mary take on an old fearmongering exaggeration. I watched another spot from the same campaign while I was at YouTube, and the greater crime, to me, is that it's just another moronic advertisement.
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Notes:
Steel, Mark et al. The Mark Steel Revolution: The Sexual Revolution. BBC Radio. July 7, 1998.
