Irony in Advertising

Okay... not so much in "advertising", literally, but here's my point:

Bumper stickers are a subtle form of advertising - while many are fun, and can be quite humerous ("Don't mess with a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup"), others can be an insight to the owner/driver of the vehicle.

There are also the ubiquitous "candidate" stickers, or the ones that may actually be promoting certain causes and political stands. (Personally, I can handle the "attitudinal" stands - "It's a child, not a choice", etc. but I see no value in actually attaching a political candidate's bumper sticker to a car... there are still people riding around, years later, with "Kerry/Edwards" stickers on their cars...)

But this is more about the second ones - the "insight to the drivers". Personally, I have two distinct stickers on my car, sunfaded after about eight years of weather exposure. One (originally) had the word "Whining" with the circular "No" sign over it (think about the Ghostbusters logo, then swap "Whining" for the ghost). The other one, before it started peeling, read "It's called thinking, you should try it sometimes." My interpretation (or, why I chose them): "No Whining" - deal with the situation at hand - no amount of P&M-ing is going to change it (at least, not to the positive), and nobody else wants to hear it. As for "Thinking" - I have lived in the service industry for years and have developed a short tolerance for people that have the knowledge on how to do/handle things at work - and don't.

And the lady-friend of mine (whose dog I watched over the weekend) has a bumper sticker that reads "Coexist", with the leters being made up of various religious symbols. I mention that as reflection of my disposition as well - as far as theology & religion goes. Mind, this is MY opinion, and MY words, not hers (so :P) - and would really take too long to really lay out, but the core of the message is: "Can't we all just get along?" But I digress...

Anyway, I've tangeted a little (yeah, and?) and here's the whole thing that started this idea. I was driving back to the office from lunch, and was pulling into a turn lane - and we had the green light (green turn arrow, and all), and the car in front of me was doing the same thing. She (at least, I think it was a she) had about three or four car lengths between her, and the last car that was turning (like, it was already rounding the curve), and she slowed, while still under the green turn arrow.

I shook my head in disbelief, thinking, "You had it, if you had kept going." While sitting there, I noticed the sticker on the back of the car. It read, "Hang up and drive." When I looked back at the driver's seat, the driver had cocked her head a little to the right - and the tell-tale line of a cell phone antenna sticking through her hair. A moment later, she swapped it over to her left.

I couldn't help but laugh. Hang up and drive... right. It's called thinking - and following your own advice - maybe she should try it sometime.