Several days ago, I wrote Verizon with the following.
As a representative of a nonprofit animal rescue organization I find the recent ad by Verizon Wireless that portrayed two dogs that appeared to be pit bulls, barking and lunging toward a man as they tried to attack him, to be extremely offensive and totally unfair to the Pit Bull breed. This is a totally inaccurate, unfair and misleading depiction of the Pit Bull breeds characteristics. Pit Bulls are repeatedly misrepresented in the news media and your ad only added to the problems of a breed known as "the Nanny Dogs," because of their tenderness toward and affection of children.
How could you do this to the breed that from the 1930's to the present, have been and are still the most popular breed of dog in the United States? They must be the most popular. There's more of them in the United States than any two other breeds combined. I guess you can you justify your decision to produce and run this ad by claiming it was simply an act of greed?
I'm suggesting to some members of the Pit Bull community that they produce an ad promoting Pit Bulls positive traits.
How would this look on screen?
WITH DISTANT WAR SOUNDS IN THE BACKGROUND
STOCK FOOTAGE: An American military convoy is seen traveling along a highway in Iraq.
CLOSEUP Slowly zooming in on a "roadside bomb" with a cell phone
attached battery and detonator. On the bottom edge of the cell phone you can clearly see the word, "VERIZON."
SCENE CUTS TO TWO MEN DRESSED AS ARABS, WHO ARE, HIDING IN DITCH ABOUT 100YRDS AWAY AND WATCHING THE CONVOY AS IT APPROACHES THE BOMB. ONE OF THE MEN IS HOLDING A CELL PHONE. THE OTHER MAN TURNS TO HIM AND SAYS:
"Habib, do you really believe the bomb will go off?"
THE ONE HOLDING THE CELL PHONE TURNS IT TOWARD HIS FRIEND AND SAYS:
"Of course it will. You see?"
AS HE POINTS TO THE BOTTOM EDGE OF THE PHONES FACE WHERE THE WORD "VERIZON" IS PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED.
AS HE DOES THIS, TWO AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIERS JUMP OUT OF ONE OF THE HUMVEES IN THE CONVOY. BOTH RUN FULL SPEED TOWARD THE DITCH WHERE THE TERRORISTS ARE HIDING. THE DOGS DIVE INTO THE DITCH AND YOU CAN SEE TWO TURBANS AND THE CELL PHONE FLY OUT OF THE DITCH INTO THE AIR, FOLLOWED BY THE TWO RUNNING TERRORISTS BEING CHASED BY THE TWO PIT BULLS.
"THE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER. THE TERRORISTS WORST ENEMY!"
SCROLLS ACROSS THE SCREEN, AS THE ANNOUNCER DOES A VOICE OVER, SAYING:
"THE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER. THE AMERICAN MILITARY'S
BEST FRIEND!"
SCENE GOES TO BLACK
Well, what cha think? Not a bad ad, huh? Short, precise, to the point. Well, actually, just like the Verizon ad, there are two points made, one about Verizon and the other about Pit Bulls. There's just that minor flip flop in the perceptive impression that's left with the viewer.
Now, seriously, I wouldn't want to put something like that on network TV. Hell, that'd cost an arm and a leg. But if it were to end up on the Internet (on several Pit Bull Forums, having tens of thousands of members) and as a result get sent around the world a couple of dozen times, and viewed by hundreds of million people. I bet it'd be a great positive publicity tool for The American Pit Bull Terrier. AND, it also says that Verizon Wireless is so damned dependable that even a terrorist would want to chose it over other services. Hey, maybe YOU could run a follow up ad promoting Verizon, and you could play on the terrorist thing and throw in a tag line like:
"VERIZON, CHOSEN BY 8 OUT OF 10 LEADING TERRORISTS!"
OR
"CHOOSE THE WIRELESS SERVICE SELECTED BY 8 OUT OF 10
LEADING TERRORISTS AS THEIR CHOICE FOR KILLING THE INFIDELS.
VERIZON THE TERRORISTS CHOICE"
Thank you
Rxxxxxx xxxxxxx
Stafford, Virginia
I'd love to see someone do a short video commercial of this or something similar and post it in YouTube?Click to expand...