Stupidtrendsinadvertising

In recent years, there has been a tendency in the marketing of consumer products to squish words together. I see examples everywhere: food packaging, television adverts, the printed media and so forth. They normally print the various words in different colours and/or fonts so that you won’t make the mistake of thinking that you are looking at one seriously big word (especially since the kinds of people who are susceptible to advertising don’t like to read long words).

This begs the question, “Why bother?” Is anyone really driven into a purchasing frenzy by the prospect of acquiring ‘fruitbuns’ versus the dull, passé old fruit buns? I’ve made discreet enquiries, but the reason behind this ridiculous trend remains curiously obscure, so it is always possible that this is the unfortunate result of some horrible misunderstanding. I suspect that the idea caught on after some advertising executive came up with a bizarre new way of trying to save money, or simply couldn’t find the spacebar on his keyboard.

I saw one of the more entertaining incarnations of this particular form of idiocy proudly emblazoned on the side of a well-known brand of music equipment: superbassreflex. Apparently, these speakers make you dance superbly.