May 2, 2007

Not A Game, or not a clue?

Chanced across this anti-gambling commercial while watching an M's game. It's slick, with great visuals and an appropriately stern and teacherly voiceover warning of the risks of the complex cause fallacy--I mean, youth gambling. (Obviously, even if it's just a symptom, gambling could serve as a red flag to otherwise unwary parents.)

However, the real problem with the commercial is its cleverness. The kids tossing chips like Tony Soprano, and the deck, what with the guns and "Old Time Whiskey" and pot leaf--they might frighten parents, but they'll have the exact opposite effect on anyone under thirty.

2 comments:

Andrew M. Bailey said...

If anything, this ad made me want to gamble. And smoke.

Jim Anderson said...

They forgot to mention that kids who gamble are 8 times more likely to wear white T-shirts with rolled up sleeves, 5 times more likely to play pinball, and 6.2 times more likely to read Thus Spoke Zarathustra.