Monday, May 02, 2005

Don't Forget Your Logical Skills

What's up with the latest commercials for travelocity.com?

So there's this gnome guy. Okay, he's got a cute accent and all. (I find "Gaaaah!... Am I going to die?" particularly amusing.)

But the logic of these commercials makes no sense to me. The series is called "The Travelling Gnome: Denouncer of Travel Myths." They come two myths to a commercial.

The first myth is, invariably, about some misconception which can be cured by using travelocity, like "Myth: It's cheaper to book your airfare and hotel separately. Untrue! Book them both on travelocity and save money!"

But then the second myth is always something stupid, like the American-hair-dryers-in-European-outlets thing, which the Gnome obstinately declares to be "Bullhonkery!" (another cute word). Never mind that American appliances generally don't even have the same number or size prongs as any European country I've ever visited.

So, when this Gnome has advises us that it's cheaper to use travelocity, we're supposed to take his word for it even though the idiot doesn't know not to plug force American devices into European sockets? That's like having someone say "I'm an expert. Sink all your life savings in ABC. Trust me on this one. Oh, and Enron is a rock-solid company." Doesn't the rampant incorrectness of the second proposition completely kill all credibility in the first?

I don't get it.

2 comments:

David Tellez said...

Yeah, but the gnome is so cute! How could you say "NO" to him?

Will said...

You just can't trust those gnomes, just look at how they spell nome for god's sake.