In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Roderick Usher cannot stand noise of any kind. He claims that all sounds fill him with horror, and that he can even hear rats scratching within the walls. (You might remember this from Vincent Price’s characterization in the 1960 movie House of Usher.) Well, I thought this would be the perfect character to advertise Bose QuietComfort Headphones!
So in the advertisement, Roderick Usher would be visited by his friend (Philip Winthrop in the movie House of Usher), and he would confide his malady about not being able to stand any noise whatsoever, and how he can even hear the scratching of rats within the walls, etc., and his friend would say: “I’ve got just the thing! Bose QuietComfort Headphones! Here, try them.” And he gets the headphones out of his bag and hands them to Roderick. Roderick puts them on, turns on the noise-cancelling, and sits back, amazed, saying: “Wow! These are great! Now I can’t hear any of the horrific noises anymore!” Then his friend says he’s glad Roderick likes them, but can he have them back now, to which Roderick leans back and replies: “What’s that? I can’t hear you.” (<In an attempt to not give them back.)
