Travel
It’s hard to feel sorry for those pre-recession bigwigs, who got used to lavish meals, fancy hotels and private jets before they were brought down by the very financial shenanigans that allowed them to live so high and mighty in the first place.
But it’s easier to make fun of the frugality they are now being forced to embrace, and that’s just what discount airliner JetBlue does well in a new ad campaign.
A simple print ad offers a message to all "Hedge Fund Managers, Big Investment Bankers, Moguls, Tycoons" and others who "might be rethinking that next trip on a private jet … Welcome Aboard."
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| jetblue.com |
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Looking for a place to spend the night, or the week? The folks at Extended Stay Hotels want you know that if you choose their hotels, you’ll feel comfortable. Really comfortable. More comfortable, in fact, than some people might feel in their own homes, with their own families.
A new commercial for the hotel chain starts off innocuously enough, with an operatic soundtrack coupled with shots of people entering and exiting their hotel rooms.
But wait, why are they pausing ever so slightly, then looking relieved? And what’s up with the fluttering shower curtain, bed sheets and flowers? Why did that woman’s candles suddenly get blown out?
If you’re in fifth grade, chances are you go this one faster than the grown-ups: Extended Stay is using farts to sell hotel rooms.
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| Extended Stay Hotels |
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It’s no secret that air travel isn’t what it used to be before 9/11. Heck, it isn’t even what it used to be a week ago, when airlines had the decency to let you check a bag without paying for it. These days, getting on an airplane is all about being nickel-and-dimed, from the time you make the reservation to the moment you straggle over to baggage claim. If you run an airline, how can you spin that in your favor?
American Airlines, which took a beating last week when it announced plans to charge $15 for checking just one piece of luggage, has long claimed in its ad campaign that, "We know why you fly."
But for the most part, the airline seems to think you fly for all the not-very-original reasons you’d expect, such as to get home early from a lame business trip or to take a vacation using frequent flyer miles. What’s more, they largely fail to give any indication of why you should choose American over the competition.
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| JetBlue |
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We see more than a few hoaxes float by our desk, most are pretty obvious. But when we saw this print advertisement allegedly from a 1979 magazine we were struck by two things.
First, it’s just eerie.
Secondly, if it’s legit – and it seems that it is – how could anything like this exist in our twin ages of the Internet and Big Paranoia and take so long to surface.
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In this interminably long political season, it doesn’t seem out of place. A campaign, Mexico, aliens and controversy.
Thing is though, it’s not that Mexico. And it’s not those aliens. And it’s an ad campaign.
Call off the political commentators.
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