Thursday, April 19, 2007

Among the jobs on my eclectic resume is advertising copywriter. I know what the deal is. Truth and advertising should never appear in the same sentence together.

Unless it's that last one.

Still. The currrent TV spot for the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut is as phony as a three dollar poker chip. Let me explain.

The spot shows people playing the slots, playing craps, shopping and swimming in one of the hotel pools. All of these people are very good looking, dressed very well ( Dressed up in some cases ), almost all white, young and middle aged.

What's wrong with this picture? If you've been to Foxwoods you know that is not what the gamblers and gambolers look like. Oh sure, you might see some people who look like the folks in the commercial. But you'll also see old folks. Folks in their 70 and 80s. Lots of them. As a matter of fact, whenever I'm there, old folks make up most of the people I see sitting in front of the slot machines. And there are no Oriental people in the commercial. Not one. Yet as I walk through the casinos at the Foxwoods resort, there are times when most of the people at the blackjack and roulette tables are Oriental.

And the way people are dressed in the spot is not the way people dress. Watch the commercial. You won't see one guy wearing a T-Shirt that shouts, " Acme Septic, Inc. " You won't see one woman wearing a pair of ratty blue jeans that are two sizes too small for her.

The commercial is obviously peopled by actors and actresses. Lots of them. Nothing wrong with that. It's nice to see these people, who probably spend a lot of time waiting on tables, getting some thespian work. But why couldn't they have given some Oriental actors some work? Why didn't they give some senior citizen actors some work?


Maybe the next commercial they shoot will be more realistic. But I wouldn't bet on it.

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