I try to avoid rants railing on work that's out there, but this one particularly rubbed me the wrong way. I would vote for the following story as one of the best, most charming stories from last year.
And then the other day I caught this on the tube:
Sometimes I like to imagine the meetings behind the work, but my brain can't process the conversation in which someone says "Let's take out the kids and replace them with three yuppy douchebags in an SUV. And let's pretend they did this all with points from their credit card."
It's one thing to be topical and relevant. It's quite another to blatantly rip off a cool story and repurpose it for lameness. On top of that, this Citibank campaign is supposed to be about true stories. Fail. And they act like they want a genuine conversation, inviting you to share your stories, yet when I try to post a comment on youtube, it requires approval from Citibank. I'm still awaiting approval of my comment.
Should I be shocked by any of this? Hardly. But I think there is a real lesson in the difference between real reality and lame commercial reality.
