Let us examine just a few nonsensical examples of local advertising.
WPVI-TV declares “Stay tuned for our exclusive Accuweather Forecast.”
Exclusive? Accuweather supplies forecast for broadcasters and businesses around the nation and world. There’s nothing “exclusive” when the company sends out weather reports to a thousand customers.
Chickie’s and Pete’s World Famous Crab Fries.
World famous? This means people in Bulgaria and Indonesia know these crab fries. We doubt that nearby residents of Wilkes-Barre or Trenton ever heard of Chickie’s and Pete’s or their “famous” crab fries.
A television ad has an auto dealer proudly declaring “I’ve always been your dealer and you just didn’t know it!” He seems very proud – as if this is the most clever slogan ever uttered.
We know the various car dealerships we have used over 50 years, and this guy was never our dealer.
During its many fund drives, WHYY public radio often declares “By making a donation you become part of a community.”
Really? By giving to the Red Cross, do we become part of the Red Cross community? Community is a word that is so over-used, it has become meaningless.
Public utility ads by PECO proclaim: “The Future is ON!”
You figure out this nugget of nonsense.
There is a hospital that says in ads that it provides you “A Nurse Navigator.” Sounds good but every hospitalization we experienced came with nurses that told us what to do and not do. What’s so different if you call the nurse a “navigator?”