Boost gets (armpit hair) in your face
Posted: Monday, February 23, 2009 4:00 PM by Allison Linn
Filed Under:
Technology
In a recent ad for Boost Mobile, a man and a woman are heading down a sunny street on a bicycle built for two, her in front and him in back.
The setup is giving her a clear view of the street ahead, and him a face full of her flowing armpit hair.
"You think this is wrong?" she says, lifting her arm to give the viewer a better look at the under-arm mane. "It’s a little gift from Mother Nature. I’ll tell you what’s wrong – it’s cell phone companies charging hidden fees."
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| Boost Mobile |
The image of several feet of armpit hair is clearly going to get people’s attention -- if only to make them point at the screen and say, "Eww!" But after grossing people out, it’s not clear how exactly it’s supposed to start getting people to think about cell phone plans.
For one thing, of course people in commercials don’t talk like people in real life, but still, it’s hard to make the logical leap from defending one’s armpit hair to discussing hidden mobile phone fees.
We might have understood the logic a bit better if the company were selling something vaguely related to personal hygiene, or if the dialogue didn’t offer quite as stark of a non sequitur.
As it stands, the woman comes off sounding less like a pitchwoman and more like a vaguely crazy-looking person who you might run into while walking down the street, and who you would naturally try desperately to avoid making eye contact with.
Click here to watch the ad.
