Eccentric Flower:199811/we owe you a reality check
From Eccentric Flower
«November 1998 «Eccentric Flower
 |
twenty-four eleven twenty-three we owe you a reality check Consumer culture is so weird. I never have to search far for examples. With Stay Tuned I never ran out of material, although I frequently ran out of energy to search for it. Tonight in the grocery store I saw boxes of cereal called Flutie Flakes, with Doug Flutie on the front, big as life. I think he's a football player, which means I wouldn't notice if the earth swallowed him up, and I certainly don't want him in my house on top of my refrigerator. Then, in line, I looked at the magazine Woman's World, which I'd say is like the dark side of Martha Stewart except that Martha is the dark side. On the cover, a picture of a snowman, and the caption "Wow! This Snowman's a Party Dip!" Does a cream-cheese snowman strike anyone else besides me as surreal? How 'bout those Flutie Flakes? [giggle] Can you say the name aloud without laughing? Every time I look at culture of consumer excess, I find it either strikes me as irritating or bizarre. Usually the irritation lapses into amusement, because I'm just that kind of person, but I do worry about what I'll be like when I'm fifty. [I should note, in fairness, that I was there buying a frozen pizza because I didn't want to cook. That sound you hear is the wall of my glass house cracking.] Once in a while, though, I see someone who is clearly doing things the Right Way. And it startles me. Which is maybe not a good sign. This was in the paper yesterday. It's from a local company which is a general retailer of odd lots, like insurance writeoffs, surplus merchandise, et cetera. You never know what you'll find in their stores, but it'll be cheap and it'll be presented as exactly what it is. They're known for their weird, frank ads, and this one is no exception: Don't you just hate it when people who sell you stuff lie to you! Well, it happens, and it happened to me last month when we bought 2400 "Cuddle Knit" sweaters from a @#$%^! New York sharpie. He told me that the fancy department stores sell them for $29.99 to $39.99 ... and since I had a sample in my hands, I (fool that I am) believed him. So I decided to put them out for $9.99. I've since done some research, and I'm convinced that these are $20 sweaters. $9.99 is too high ... I've marked them down to $5.95. So ... if you bought one of these sweaters from us for $9.99, then WE OWE YOU $4.04. Bring in your receipt and get your money. I want more ads like that. © columbine |
