Eavesdropping

We are convinced that Madison Ave advertisers are eavesdropping on our conversations. Why else would ads with 'mistakes' in them be suddenly changed after we guffaw about them in our living room?

Take Quiznos, for example. For a long time their ads have someone saying "MMMMM, Toasty" while their printed slogan only says "MMMM Toasty." 5 Ms vs. 4 - see? The rhythm was off and it was just driving me nuts! So one day I mentioned it to the ditsy little blond girl struggling with making change at our local store. Very confusing conversation, actually. But about 2 months later another M had been added to the ad. Hmmmmm.

Then Hillshire Farms had that stupid 'military' ad with backyard barbecuing dads chanting a 'barbecue' chant which ended in the "when I say Hillshire you say Farm" ditty. There was another bizarre timing gap between the ditty and the response. "Hillshire!" "Farm!" "Go Meat!" The timing is critical and they just didn't have it. There were 3 or 4 beats between Hillshire and Farm. It was painful. But it got fixed. They cut the extra time out of the ad somehow. It is much better now. But only after WE complained - to ourselves!

The last one was the worst. Someone has created a new snack with nuts - you may have seen the commercial: a 'domino' layout of almonds or something on the video while the audio is expounding on the virtues of this great new "nut snack." That is the final wording of the ad - nut snack - but it somehow came out on the finished commercial as sounding like the second 'n' was missed. Not good.

But it is fixed now. They are declaring it to be just a 'snack' now. Nuts, presumably, are inferred. Almonds or otherwise.

I'm telling you - they are listening in.