webofevil: (*gulp*)
webofevil ([personal profile] webofevil) wrote2006-11-23 12:21 pm

L

My friend L has sent me this bomb threat assessment form, taken from a focus group facility in Los Angeles. Most such forms demand you ask the same questions of the caller, but only in Hollywood would it go into as much lavish detail about their voice. It’s less a terrorism procedure than a casting call. There may as well be an extra tick box: “Has an agent ___”.




By chance, this week I came across something else L passed on to me, about eight years ago now. We met in the pub after he had finished for the day at the marketing company he was working for. He had been crying laughing for several hours, ever since one of his colleagues had called him over and said, “What do you think of this?” They were working on a campaign for BT, who, like McDonald’s, run many different accounts with different agencies. The ad is for... actually, I forget exactly what it’s for. It was something to do with bereavement counselling, but how BT were involved now escapes me. All I know is that this battered photocopy L ran off before fleeing the building helpless with laughter is probably all that survives of this well-intentioned but terrible, clunking idea for an ad campaign that never made it to a magazine near you.

[identity profile] new-brunette.livejournal.com 2006-11-23 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
"Grimmy the Reaper can help". With that one small change it would have been a runner.

[identity profile] chiller.livejournal.com 2006-11-23 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my god.

[identity profile] verlaine.livejournal.com 2006-11-23 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
How do I explain death to my pet raccoon then?

[identity profile] besskeloid.livejournal.com 2006-11-25 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
Squeakily.

[identity profile] ruudboy.livejournal.com 2006-11-23 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
That form really needs a space for "Recognised codeword" I think.

from L

(Anonymous) 2006-11-25 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Boswell, my Boswell...You've forgotten more things about my life than I can remember.....

Speaking of which, I cannot for the life of me remember what that BT thing was about. But thank you for dredging it up from the dusty archive that is your flat.