A re-re-run: Creepy Valentines. A couple of illustrations from a site
that’s gone belly-up. Which is too bad, because I've linked this site for the past two years... I don’t mean to imply you’re creepy, Gentle Reader. But, OTOH, I got quite a few hits yesterday for the search term “creepy valentines.”
I know it wasn’t you.
I’m glad this “special day” is here and will be gone with the sunset this evening. Why? So I won’t be exposed to Creepy Valentines Day advertisements on my teevee every 17 minutes. From these guys. You know, the people who tell ya there’s “…only one gift guaranteed to get women to take their clothes off…” with “all that spa stuff that women just love,” the bottom-line being “she’ll think you spent weeks planning it.” Yeah. Right. To say these ads insult male intelligence is only scratching the surface. And were I a woman receiving a V-Day pajamagram, I’d seriously RE-consider the quality of my relationship. That goes for Vermont Teddy Bears, as well… perhaps double. I’ve read both businesses are owned by the same company. Which may or may not be true, but the ads for both products look very similar, so I tend to believe what I hear. About which…
Yet another business to add to my list of places to visit when I begin my post-retirement career as a midnite fire-bomber.
OTOH (and I never run out of “other hands,” ya know), here’s something good from PostSecret…
So. Enjoy your Hallmark Holiday Valentines Day.
I think the Pajamagram ads are so stupid... but the jammies are great!
ReplyDeleteI asked Stuntman to send me some last year, and they are really nice.
I think it is the same company as Vermont Teddy Bear... and I received one of those from him 13 years ago for Valentine's Day... as a surprise. I barely knew him, we had just met briefly, weren't dating, and lived in different states at the time. We married later that year.
You make good points, TripleE. I should have emphasized... more clearly... that my issue was not with the products but the way they're marketed. The ads make men look like doofuses. Especially the VT Teddy ads...the one with the clue-free guys popping their heads up over the cube walls to watch the Ecstatic Lovelies fondle their teddy bears comes to mind, especially.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when that happens.
I agree , Buck, but I haven't seen the VTB ads, only heard them on the radio, but they sound just as stupid as the PJgram ones...
ReplyDeleteand I forgot to say... I did enjoy the PostSecret video
Last night Toby brought home a bag of m&m peanunts and said Happy Valentine's. I told him that I knew he didn't buy them, and I was right, he won them at work playing some silly game at a baby shower. When you know someone so well, it is hard to come up with really good suprises. If he bought me a teddy bear or a teddy from some advertisement on TV, I would probably say, "That's nice." But I would be thinking, "Is that the best you can do?" And I would be thankful for whatever 'cuz I know that he is trying, but women are complicated.
ReplyDelete...but women are complicated.
ReplyDeleteOK, Lou... you win the prize for "understatement of the day." ;-)
But it's oh-so-good to see a guy get credit for trying!
I'm glad I missed those ads.
ReplyDeleteValentine's Day goes largely unobserved around here. I bought Cody some chocolates, and he didn't get me anything.
It's a phase.
Becky sez: Valentine's Day goes largely unobserved around here.
ReplyDeleteSame here. But it's NOT a phase at El Casa Móvil De Pennington... it's more or less permanent.
;-)
Oops. I should have been more clear.
ReplyDeleteI meant that Cody's not buying me gifts is a phase. Not the unobservance of Valentine's day. It's pretty much permanent around here, too.
Bec here. (You have a new "Choose an identity")
ReplyDeleteThat "Baby it's you" song for the Teddy bears set my teeth on edge this year. I think it's the longest advert I've ever heard and the people in it looked insipid. Valentines meant something in the old days (in my imagination) when little kids were shyly fond of each other and attempted to show it. Forget it now, though. Kids are too "cool" or jaded - no room for romance (which should be founded on admiration and respect).
/soapbox
You got is right...A Hallmark Holiday. I remember Patricia and my first Valentine's date....I took her to a IHL Hockey game at Dayton vs the Fort Wayne Komets(my favorite minor league team)...and dinner after, that was probably my favorite.....and even she loved it!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that most holidays are catered toward women. Are there any men holidays? In advertising anniversaries are inclined towards women. Valentines day most have been started by a woman. Correction, a woman who was in advertising. ;) I agree with you Buck it is a Hallmark Holiday.
ReplyDeleteJust dropped over to see how Mr. Humbug was surviving the day. Looks like you have plenty of decent company stopping in though.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mark and I first started dating, he showed up at the door with a box under his arm. I cringed a little. Then he said "Here, these are treats for your dog." MUCH later down the road, he explained "I figured I'd get on her good side and she's do the sell job." He sure had that right - she adored him, too.
I saw an ad for those p.j.grams in Smithsonian mag, of all places. They must be making WAY too much money if they can afford such broad ad coverage.
Bec sez: Valentines meant something in the old days (in my imagination) when little kids were shyly fond of each other...
ReplyDeleteI'm really out of touch when it comes to wee small kids these days (like 3rd grade and under), so I don't know. But I would hope kids still do the Valentines thing at school, no? My cohort traded cards all the way up into the 7th grade, and it was a popularity thing by that time, of course... both in quantity and quality. e.g., the real hotties only gave out two or three valentines.
But that was then...
Pat: COOL V-Day date!! Ain't it good to have a wife who's into hockey?
Ashley sez: Are there any men holidays?
Every Saturday in the Fall, Ashley. And all we ask for is beer and pizza. Coz we're very simple creatures. ;-)
Lin sez: Just dropped over to see how Mr. Humbug was surviving the day.
Very nicely, thanks! Don't hate me for this, but... The WX was nice here today. I took Miss Zukiko out for about an hour and a half early this afternoon and let her stretch her legs. Nothing like a few 80 mph blasts to clear out the cobwebs.
re: Your story about Mark... I cannot BEGIN to enumerate the ways you impress me, Gentle Lady. This story (the "I cringed a little" bits) is just one amongst many, many.
I thought I was the only person who saw those TV ads for Teddy Bears and PJs. Or whatever. The first time I saw them I honestly believe I smiled through the whole thing. I called my wife of almost 53 years in and asked if I should be sending her one or the other and I can't tell you what she said. LOL
ReplyDeleteAbe sez: ...asked if I should be sending her one or the other and I can't tell you what she said. LOL
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll just use my imagination, Abe. ;-)