One of my worst characteristics is my desire to fix things.
I’m not talking about little things like pulling the weeds from gardens I pass, or repainting walls. That sort of stuff I leave as is– it is a symbol of the passing of time.
Besides, who am I to decide the definition of a weed?
Mind your feet!
No, I itch to change big things. I want to remake other people’s advertisements, books, and websites. It’s a terrible flaw, especially because I don’t have the gentle grace necessary to pull off a quiet, considerate suggestion. When I see something– anything– I burst with ideas on how to make it better.
I try to offer suggestions, but I am not a light-footed, whispering ballerina. I am Paul Bunyan, stomping around their forest shouting incomprehensible things, which probably sound a lot like, “And this tree should be squished. And that tree should be squished.”
The intention is always to help, but my execution is particularly sloppy, so I tend to just keep ideas to myself. For what it’s worth, I don’t just limit the uninvited critiques that wander about my mind to small business signage and blogs. No, I regularly want to remake national ad campaigns.
But on that note, who doesn’t want to fix Microsoft’s advertisements? Their commercial for Bing literally says “Google” more times than it says Bing. Why is a giant company making basic marketing mistakes? My only guess is that their marketing department is actually just a computer that randomizes commercials and creates a hybrid for their use.
Hire humans, Microsoft! Sheesh.
I also take issue with public service announcements.
Specifically, I want to remake those bus stop advertisements. We spend a good deal of state money on billboards that explain how to correctly strap your child into their car seat. Then, we put those excessively verbose billboards by bus stops, where only people taking a bus can read them! The majority of people on the buses out here in Orange County do not have cars to strap their children into.
Someone in government needs to read a book about product placement.
I also always want to tweak blogs, including my own. Just a fix here, and a switch here, and *poof*, we’ve made things more fabulous!
Of course, I don’t have all the answers for marketing, advertisement, design, signage, and effective website usage– but I do have a good deal of experience. Some days, what I want most is to be able to mark up the world with a big red editor’s pen.
But every time I reach for my red editing pen in real life, I try to remind myself that it’s not the nicest way to live. Being distracted with how you can improve something takes away from the experience.
In other words, sometimes it’s best to put down the red pen, and pick up a magical purple crayon.
Are there any ad campaigns that you want to fix up? Do you ever want a take a red pen to life, buildings, or books? If you had Harold’s purple crayon and could simply draw something into being, what would be the very first thing you’d draw?
Current Cast of this week’s Prompts for the Promptless episode– “Remake”:
- A Sign of Life – Earth, Remade
- Hyperlocal Hero – #70
- Think/Look/Write- A Double Birth
- Serendipity – Leda and the Swan Remake
- Peace Wisdom Prosperity – Hostage of Time
- One Starving Activist – The Wrong Script
- Journey Called Life… Remake!
- TheMatticusKingdom- Searching
- FishOfGold – Remaking the Peace Symbol
- Repressed Expressions – Frankenstein Revisited
- Ramblings and other Nonsence – An Ode to Poe
- Grayson Queen – The Last Starfighter
- Mama Bear Musings – Remake
- This Typing Makes Me Look Busy… – Jump Off a Cliff, Kristen Stewart!
- Indira – Remake!
- Cognitive Reflections – Remake
- Breathing Space – Making It Better
- Of Mind or Matter – Conversations with Maya
- Sue’s Trifles – Remake
- ElectronicBagLady’s BagOBits- The Cruellest Cut
- StuphBlog – Rebirthing
- Pondering Spawned – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly- A Romeo and Juliet Story
