Heavy Hoax

Targeting multiple “hot” topics at once – weight and the green movement, ad company Philadelphia Media Holdings has developed a phony ad campaign for Derrie-Air, the faux airline that purports to charge you based on what you weigh and supposedly plants an equivalent number of trees to offset the carbon emissions generated by flying free-wheeling folks around the friendly skies.

Why did they do it? “… to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens.”

What a COOL idea! It demonstrates the company’s innovation and “outside the box” thinking, and it serves as a catalyst for two very important cultural conversations. The buzz about the counterfeit campaign also highlights how much validity we give what we see in print. Typically, if it’s in the paper or online, we consider it to be true. That lack of critical evaluation can be dangerous. It’s one of the reasons people are defrauded so regularly through sham Internet sites or don’t go to the doctor once they’ve self-diagnosed using the web.

This makes me long for my college days when we would sit in class and debate these types of philosophical questions for a whole semester. Those were good days! J

Maybe I could start a sociological studies club, instead of a book club… one in which we consider all the ways we are shaped by modern society. Wouldn’t that be a super darn hoot?! Don’t know if I could make it fly, though (hee, hee, hee). It’s already hard enough to get more than two of us together for coffee because we’re always winging (grin!) here, there and everywhere in opposite directions.