Reflections From a Murky Pond

Oh My!

There’s a dearth of honesty in marketing and, hence, the idea of marketing honesty itself is beyond the pale, too shocking to be considered by advertising firms or the corporations that hire them. That was until now…

This Is You…Weak, Scared, Alone, Always

Revlon (REV), one of the oldest and largest cosmetics firms in America, has chosen to change things up and try marketing honesty…brutal honesty.

The company’s “You Are What You Are” campaign, which debuted with dark and haunting multi-page spreads in several major fashion magazines, cautions consumers that, at best, makeup is a sad disguise people hide behind in a futile attempt to avoid uncomfortable facts about their true nature.

With our new ad campaign, we want to emphasize that you can buy all the lotions, powders, and fragrances you want, but you can’t escape who you really are: a fragile, flawed, and ultimately insignificant being who is tormented by fear and insecurity. It’s fine to use our products if they make you feel a little more attractive, but just remember it’s only a temporary distraction from the terrifying reality of your barren, unfulfilling life.

Your existence is a dismal and feeble one, and no amount of mascara is ever going to change that.

— Vivian Falk
Vice President of Marketing

Revlon’s new “You Are What You Are” campaign is a high-dollar gamble. It’s a bold and daring move that’s sure to shake up a lot people. It’ll be successful as well because, the more they tell the women who buy their products that they’re worthless, the more those women will flock to Revlon to buy cosmetics to hide behind.

BTW – If you didn’t already know and you couldn’t guess, this is a joke, albeit a cruel one. This is an excerpt with commentary of a recent “article” in The Onion.

The Ace Of Spades – Appropriate For Obama

In popular myth and folklore, the ace of spades is also known as the “death card.” How very apropos that an artist has depicted Obama upon it, for most certainly the only other card in the deck that would work would be the joker.

237 years, 10 months, and 5 days ago General George Washington issued these general orders to the stalwarts of the Revolutionary Army:

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.

— George Washington
General Orders, July 2, 1776

Today, the orders are the same. Once again the time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them.

Once again it is not some foreign power threatening Americans’ basic and natural rights and freedoms. It’s our own government doing so, just as the Crown did so in days gone by. Once again we’re divided in our loyalties, with some 20% supporting the cause of freedom, some 20% staying loyal to the “Crown,” and the rest just hoping to weather the storm. And once again, we can expect the majority of Blacks to align with “Crown.”

As it stands and has always stood, the order remain the same. Let us hope and pray – and act as the God(s) hands to fulfill our prayers – that we are as successful as the Founders were.

No! Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day and it’s barely celebrated in Mexico, except in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla. In point of fact, it’s celebrated far more – and far more exuberantly – in America than in Mexico.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

It’s really an “immigrant” holiday that has successfully assimilated into- and added to America’s tapestry of holidays. So go out and celebrate it. Have fun! Take a day and night to enjoy the beauties of Mexico. 😉