Got to Buy It, I've Got to Buy It

During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college, I interned at an advertising firm in Chicago. Cool job. My first task on my first day was to accompany my boss to a Toys 'R Us, where we purchased a bunch of Star Wars action figures. The firm in question was in charge of several major accounts, including Taco Bell, which at the time was doing tie-ins with Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (aka steaming pile of fanbase betrayal).

I learned a lot during that summer. Most importantly, I discovered that I was a writer who liked history, not a historian who liked to write. Other, less personally important discoveries:

-Sears likes to ask for innovation and then shoot down anything approaching it. "We want to do something different for Mother's Day next year." OK, how about we do a special mom-friendly event where anybody who comes in with a baby receives a free manicure or pedicure, bring in storytellers or magicians to entertain kids so that they don't bother her while shopping, do generational coupons that stack if mom and grandma come in together... "Wait, no, nevermind, let's just put on a sale. And emphasize how much everybody loves mom. Use words like 'Sears Loves Moms.' And maybe use ducks instead of flowers this time."

-Jim Beam started a campaign that was hilarious. It centered on being one of the guys. I was particularly fond of one copywriter's contribution: "They eat your food, sleep on your couch, and now they want your sister." It was silly, poking fun at what it meant to be a guy rather than trying to say "real men drink Jim Beam." I was sorely disappointed to see that same campaign, years later, taking a misogynistic turn (this example is from Australia, but I've seen similar stuff in magazine ads in the US). Sigh.

-The Blair Witch Project is actually scary as hell when you watch it on a bootleg VHS tape that somebody in the firm got from a friend who was involved with the project. In the theaters? Laughable. But popping in a scratchy version and sitting in your basement to view it? Totally in line with the artistic vision of the filmmakers.

-Fads are powerful. Everybody wanted a piece of Pokemon. Sears (though it ended up rejecting any good ideas we came up with). Various other retailers. Fast food joints. Pokemon pokemon pokemon. This should have happened even back then.

Bonus points for anybody who gets the reference in the title of this post.