Tuesday, June 23, 2009

prettiest girl in pakistan

two of them actually, sat next to each other, smiling their best smiles, over a pizza. they absolutely beamed with joy. alas, they weren't real (as in not physically present), they were girls in a pizza hut billboard. so eating at pizza hut will bring me pretty girls? has the marketing team even seen karachi? for those you haven't had that pleasure, it's a step away from being a single large a dump. most of the population is impoverished and there is garbage on the sides of most roads. for some reason birds closely resembling the carrion variety fly around the city everywhere you look. and one very important fact: there are no girls dressed like those in the ad or as pretty.

of course, pizza hut isn't the only company guilty of false advertising. other examples:
1. wii ads, with people old and young excitedly huddled around the tv, ecstatic with joy playing some shit ass game. the reality is that the wii is sitting in its original box, with the box gathering dust somewhere. the bigger reality is that everyone hates their immediate family.
2. panasonic and their flat tv. three 20-somethings laughingly carry it and hang it on a wall opposite a couch in what can only be described as a hallway. apparently it was a tiny apartment. the kids immediately throw themselves on the couch and start enjoying their purchase. panasonic were emphasizing the slimness of the tv. what they also emphasized was the abject poverty of the owners, to live in a matchbox, yet somehow afford a flat screen tv.
3. airline ads showing people happily sleeping in their business and first class cabins, with stewardesses ascending on them like angels, carrying fresh food, taking their books and covering them while they sleep. the reality of course is that most of these stewardesses are not models who couldn't find other jobs, nor do they care if you are covered while sleeping. however, what the ads truly fail to capture is coach, where passengers are crammed in like sardines, the food is horrible (rubbery omelets, crunchy bread, limp salads anyone?), and there is a single stewardess for each 50 passengers.

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