Happy Tubesday, Wenches and Wenchabbes! Today I bring you a trio of PSA remembered fondly throughout my life. The first is one anyone who watched Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s will remember, Louie the Lightning Bug.
Next up is an iconic, much parodied PSA that I have on many a VHS tape from my childhood, the infamous crying Indian.
My final pick isn't the video so much as the jingle. We still have this in rotation at the local college radio station, and I play it every chance I get. If you ever need the poison control center, then I've got your back...
Happy Tubesday! Enjoy!
Showing posts with label radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radio. Show all posts
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
John Tesh is a fear monger and needs to be stopped.
John Tesh is a fear monger and needs to be stopped.
The only time I ever listen to the radio is on the drive to work in the mornings. And the only reasons for that is because it's only a ten minute drive, and as out of it as I am in the mornings, it would take longer than that to locate and hook up my iPod. I can listen to Bob & Sheri, who are pretty amusing, get a dose of news and weather, and only have to listen to one shitty pop song. (And I swear, 80% of the time it's Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent." Could be worse.)
The problem with this is that I leave the station tuned when I get out of the car, and it's still on when I go home for lunch or at the end of the day. The rest of the day, there are copious amounts of commercials for the John Tesh Radio Show, "Intelligence for your life."
Now, full disclosure, I tend to hate any sort of motivational speakers. Growing up with a mother who listened to Tony Robbins all the time, I got seriously worn out on people who make a living telling other people how to run their lives.
That being said, it is entirely possible John Tesh is the devil. The thing I've noticed is that while I suppose he purports to be helping people, all of his well-meaning advice is more mean than well. All of the advice is basic common sense. And I know that common sense is not so common these days, but his brief advice snippets focus solely on the negative and rarely have any useful info.
I decided to sacrifice a few brain cells and check the website out for some examples.
Make Your Next Vacation As Stress-Free As Possible. The bullet points? Check your health insurance. Save your skin. Protect your valuables.
Because the only things that could possibly happen on your vacation are that you'll get sick, sunburned and robbed. How about ... buy a map! Plan ahead for the attractions you want to see. Become familiar with the general road structure/public transportation.
Secrets of The Airline Industry.
* Airport luggage scales are often wrong.
* The air in the airplane cabin could make you sick.
* The flight crew is totally exhausted.
They're maliciously overcharging you on purpose! You're going to get pneumonia and die! The pilot is going to fall asleep at the wheel and we'll all burn in a fiery disaster!
Make Your Date Like you in 90 Seconds or Less.
* Floss your teeth.
* If you want her to pay attention to you-- notice the color of her eyes.
* If you want her to like you right away-- Mirror her. If she scratches her nose, rub your eye. We gravitate toward people like us.
The first two make sense, but WTF with #3? Mime her movements? That's just creepy. Haven't we all seen enough romcoms to know that if you scratch your nose and he follows suit, you're going to be paranoid that there's something on your face and you'll both be doing a twitchy dance until you sneak out and get to a mirror and realize you look just fine?
We're Eating Too Much Sugar
* Research suggests that sugar makes your body less effective at fighting CANCER.
What research? Hmm? I like that they pick out the big killer and make sure you notice it by putting it IN CAPS.
But the one I heard on the radio the other day was the last straw: Beware of Canine Flu. Obviously, the commercials on the radio are not going to give you all of the info on the subject he's promoting for the full show. But does the commercial basically have to say, "could your beloved pet be dead within the week?!"
And did we ever stop to think that maybe the reason common sense is dying is because we depend too much on stupid people like John Tesh (or Oprah, Dr Phil, Tyra...) to tell us how to live our lives instead of figuring it out on our own? Sigh.
The only time I ever listen to the radio is on the drive to work in the mornings. And the only reasons for that is because it's only a ten minute drive, and as out of it as I am in the mornings, it would take longer than that to locate and hook up my iPod. I can listen to Bob & Sheri, who are pretty amusing, get a dose of news and weather, and only have to listen to one shitty pop song. (And I swear, 80% of the time it's Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent." Could be worse.)
The problem with this is that I leave the station tuned when I get out of the car, and it's still on when I go home for lunch or at the end of the day. The rest of the day, there are copious amounts of commercials for the John Tesh Radio Show, "Intelligence for your life."
Now, full disclosure, I tend to hate any sort of motivational speakers. Growing up with a mother who listened to Tony Robbins all the time, I got seriously worn out on people who make a living telling other people how to run their lives.
That being said, it is entirely possible John Tesh is the devil. The thing I've noticed is that while I suppose he purports to be helping people, all of his well-meaning advice is more mean than well. All of the advice is basic common sense. And I know that common sense is not so common these days, but his brief advice snippets focus solely on the negative and rarely have any useful info.
I decided to sacrifice a few brain cells and check the website out for some examples.
Make Your Next Vacation As Stress-Free As Possible. The bullet points? Check your health insurance. Save your skin. Protect your valuables.
Because the only things that could possibly happen on your vacation are that you'll get sick, sunburned and robbed. How about ... buy a map! Plan ahead for the attractions you want to see. Become familiar with the general road structure/public transportation.
Secrets of The Airline Industry.
* Airport luggage scales are often wrong.
* The air in the airplane cabin could make you sick.
* The flight crew is totally exhausted.
They're maliciously overcharging you on purpose! You're going to get pneumonia and die! The pilot is going to fall asleep at the wheel and we'll all burn in a fiery disaster!
Make Your Date Like you in 90 Seconds or Less.
* Floss your teeth.
* If you want her to pay attention to you-- notice the color of her eyes.
* If you want her to like you right away-- Mirror her. If she scratches her nose, rub your eye. We gravitate toward people like us.
The first two make sense, but WTF with #3? Mime her movements? That's just creepy. Haven't we all seen enough romcoms to know that if you scratch your nose and he follows suit, you're going to be paranoid that there's something on your face and you'll both be doing a twitchy dance until you sneak out and get to a mirror and realize you look just fine?
We're Eating Too Much Sugar
* Research suggests that sugar makes your body less effective at fighting CANCER.
What research? Hmm? I like that they pick out the big killer and make sure you notice it by putting it IN CAPS.
But the one I heard on the radio the other day was the last straw: Beware of Canine Flu. Obviously, the commercials on the radio are not going to give you all of the info on the subject he's promoting for the full show. But does the commercial basically have to say, "could your beloved pet be dead within the week?!"
And did we ever stop to think that maybe the reason common sense is dying is because we depend too much on stupid people like John Tesh (or Oprah, Dr Phil, Tyra...) to tell us how to live our lives instead of figuring it out on our own? Sigh.
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