A critique of my critique?

OK It says nothing about dull dry farts in the text. I got that from the picture. Its MY take on the target market. Going with JK's ad would pull in the techno-hip crowd and THEY don't have the problem.

( My appologies if that's what your living room looks like. I didn't mean to call you and old dry fart, even if indirectly.)

Just so you know what an old farts living room looks like...

-- here's mine:

http://www.copywritercash.com/house/living_room.jpg

... and here's some other shots of the house:

BTW - ignore the ugly kitchen wallpaper (it's going soon).

http://www.copywritercash.com/house/kitchen.jpg

http://www.copywritercash.com/house/kitchen2.jpg

http://www.copywritercash.com/house/bedroom.jpg
(and no, there are no stars on the ceiling)

I may be out of touch because I have been self-employed for 25 years (no boss) and do not ever invite strangers or acquaintances to my home. Also, I live in New England, where even long-time neighbors who are not reclusive by personality do not often invite one another in.

But is it realistic that an employee would invite their boss over to dinner at their house? I have never heard of this.

And why on earth would you invite someone into your home who is going to judge you? (Other than, let's say a relative whom you have to entertain to keep the family peace.)

I don't understand some of the basic assumptions in this ad. Please enlighten me.

Marcia Yudkin

There is now
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49104346@N00/128380971/


My wife wants to know if your married.

I may have some insight into your question, Marcia. My dad was an electrical engineer for a large firm. As a kid I remember the tension in our house before certain parties my parents would host. Looking back, I realize he was "having the boss over." I'm sure this was part of some elaborate corporate ritual.

I have a sister who lives in Scottsdale. In the late 80's, her husband went to work in merger's and acquisitions for an exclusive hotel group. I was always a bit envious of him. The guy was pulling down 250k/year plus options, and bonuses.

This was at a time when I was making about one-fifth that. Which, when I didn't compare myself to him, wasn't so bad. Fortunately for my fragile ego, I didn't vist them that often.

Their house was beautiful; their cars, beautiful. For all I know, they bought their furniture from Kacey Fine Furniture.

Funny thing is they were always worried about money. I had to help pay for my sister to bring her kids to visit one year.

This guy was a finance major, so you'd have thought he would have known about the dangers of negative compound interest, but he was playing the corporate game, so going into "lifestyle-maintenance" debt was looked at as an "investment."

They had, in his words, "to look successful, to be successful."

A big part of playing that game was having clients, and bosses over to schmooze.

Think Darren Stevens inviting Larry Tate to his place.

I think this ad would've got right inside my ex brother-in-law's head. He always felt that five years down the road, he'd make enough to easily knock down his debt, and start saving for retirement.

He did keep getting those promotions, but they never caught up to their lifestyle. They divorced and filed for bankruptcy.

(And I've experienced that New England reserve, too. I grew up in Florida. My senior year of high school we moved to a small town in the Adirondacks. The people were friendly, but very reserved, almost clannish. They were that way in east Tennessee, also. I always thought geography played a part in that. My thought was if you live in flat, open spaces, like the midwest, you tend to be more neighborly; but if you live in areas where you can't see over into the next holler, you're going to be a bit more withdrawn. Especially if your kinfolk have lived there since before the Civil War.)

I don't know how realistic it is, since I've been self employed for 25 years too, but it must be a pretty common thing... or was at one time, because that storyline has been sitcom fodder for my entire life. When I was growing up, every sitcom had the boss coming over for dinner.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
Mary Tyler Moore
All in the Family
I Love Lucy (Usually a big investor in Ricky's Club, but the same situation)

Yeah, but in those shows the husband and wife slept in separate beds too.