In this spot in the man-in-a-suit-talking-to-little-kids-in-an-elementary-school ad campaign for AT&T, the man asks the kids: “Why is it better to get what you want now instead of later?” (Way to make kids demand instant gratification in everything early on in life so they will be spoiled and hyper-entitled and collapse in a heap of nihilism if they ever have to earn or wait for something, AT&T!) Well, these kids don’t have enough life experience to adequately answer that question, but they could at least say: “Because if I don’t get what I want now, I will whine and complain and drive everyone crazy, and all that could easily be avoided by simply giving me whatever I want right away.” Isn’t that closer to the truth, at least as far as their parents’ tolerance is concerned?
(Oh, and speaking of nihilism…) But I think this ad would have worked better to have a group of goth tots in the ad, and they could reply things like: “Well, you never know: you could die at any moment, and then you might never get what you want, and die a miserable person who never truly lived, with a desperate yearning in your soul, causing you to return as a vengeful spirit to haunt and torment others for eternity.” And another kid could add: “Yeah, this kind of stuff really makes one consider the anguish that is human existence, leading one to the realization that life is meaningless, and self-extermination is the only answer.” And then the kids would get the smartphone and unlimited plan from AT&T, and they would cheer up and they’d decide to live, if only to set up a website encouraging others to commit suicide.
Oh AT&T, first you threaten us with werewolf attacks, and then you try to nurture our urge for immediate gratification, you monsters! How could you? What’s next, a scenario where there’s a nuclear standoff between nations, but because they’re using a competing cell phone plan, the calls get dropped, they think they have hung up on one another, and due to their monumental pride and jingoism, nukes get launched, and the world is destroyed? Or maybe a kidnapping scenario where the parents of an abducted child are given an untraceable cell phone to communicate with the kidnappers about a ransom, but because it’s not AT&T, the calls get dropped and the kid gets killed?* (BTW: If you use any of those, I get writing credit!)
Oh, sorry, I guess it’s the thought of raisins that’s making me so morbid: innocent grapes being forcibly deprived of food and water and shelter, leaving it so helpless and hopeless that it cannot even fight for its own survival (!). Oh, and this ad proudly displays the failure of our education system, teaching children everything backwards, like raisins turning into grapes. No wonder so many young people support the failed system of communism these days, with all this backwards education! (I am joking here, but the education system is failing us.)
Here’s the rad raisin reasoning:
* This is what’s known as the “hard sell”.
