Friday, June 3, 2011

This is why I don't watch tv.

I just saw a commercial for a tooth-whitening product where an attractive woman with great teeth was all "As a professional photographer, I really want my subjects to have white teeth."  And just as she said this, a fine-print disclaimer popped up that said: Paid actress.  Not a professional photographer.

This brings up so many questions for me.  Such as:

-Doesn't the disclaimer destroy the whole point of the commercial (which is that this woman is an expert and we should listen to her)?
-Wouldn't it have made more sense to let the woman play herself?  ("As a spokesmodel, I find I get a lot more work - and a lot more admiring glances! - when my teeth look their whitest!")
-If they were stuck on the idea of it being a photographer, couldn't they have found a real one?  Or do real photographers all have yellowed, crumbling teeth?
-Why did they think a photographer would be the ultimate authority on white teeth, anyway?  I'd've gone with a sociologist quoting actual studies on nicer teeth getting people better jobs, more friends, etc. (I'm sure there must be studies that show this).
-Do commercials without fine-print disclaimers actually feature real dentists/doctors/etc.?  Because I always kind of assumed they were all paid actors.

So, yeah...every time I try to watch tv, I get baffled and infuriated and have to turn it off again.  This time was a record, though: I reached my breaking point within 30 seconds.

It's gonna take a whollllllllle lot of Futurama to cleanse my palate this time.

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