Dead man pitching

If you watch CNN, you still see Billy Mays pitching Jupiter hands-free phone docking (supposedly helps you drive safely, even if you were already dead).

What are they taking us for? Can’t tell a taped segment from a live one? Pavlov’s lab subjects (ring the bell, the dog salivates without the Wendy’s ladies asking “where is the beef”).

I thought Jupiter hands-free can serve my needs, but now I am pissed off because someone in ad placement thinks it’s

charitable to continue paying out to Mays’ widow or they are just lazy, and assume the audience wouldn’t be able to tell a dead man pitching from a live one (next time, use an Avatar).

We (human) used to get up and fight for survival (jungle king). Now we have to preserve our most precious commodity: time, privacy and judgment. The assaults come from all sources: billboards, toilet posters, gas pump quick ad, pop up web pages, taxi windshields and back of front-row seats etc.. just to name a few. “in your face” ad assaults.

It doesn’t matter if the ad was thoughtfully crafted. Just “bullet theory”, looking for “maximum casualty”.

I am not from the old school. But if you sit down, and compute the hours spent in front of the screens (TV, internet, cell phone) you will realize how much time have gone to the ethernet and how much time is left for face-to-face interaction.

Yet face time is the most effective means (albeit most expensive) of communication and persuasion.

One can read “buying signals”, exhibit social intelligence and grace, exercise “empathy”, and pay forward or get referral.

My voice mail has been doing a lot of screening for me because the automated telemarketing message deserves a voice mail response (machine-to-machine communication).

And when it comes to dead man pitching, I will buy Jupiter hands free when I am dead. Sorry, it is just the way it is.

Tit for tat.