Commentary

Flying umbrellas

  • by October 16, 2008
I'm at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., on my way to Orlando and the ANA conference. On the drive up on I91 I saw several electronic billboards that drew my interest. One was for Dunkin' Donuts and it was white white white and advertising the flatbread egg white sandwiches against a solid grey sky. Beautiful, and well placed because there were no others nearby. I think there may have been a landfill behind it.

Then, another, off to the right advertising the candidacy off a local state senator wannabe. That one had just changed from another and I wanted to see how long it would last but I couldn't keep my eyes on it and the road. It looked more like Yellow Pages advertising to me.

Now, in the airport, I passed two little kids playing with ads for Travelers Insurance on the wall. There were four or five ads, all alike, in the shape of the company's iconic red umbrella. When the kids touched the ads, the little umbrellas making up the bigger one flew in every direction. They were having a ball.

Not one adult stepped up the plate so I, your trusty editor, sidled up the one of them and lay my arm full on it, sending little red umbrellas spinning every which way. Some people just have to let their hair down a little, huh?

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