(no subject)
Last night, I had this dream.
The greater context of the dream was some kind of kitschy Stephen King horror movie of badness, in which the evil possessed cat (a la Pet Semitary) rips off some people's faces. Grandma loses an eye and half her face, at which point she apparently also became possessed and turned to the protagonist, with a demand that he locate her missing eye for her. Then the camera zoomed in on her empty socket, wherein some kind of tiny demonic entity was cackling from what appeared to be another dimension within her head.
This could have had the makings of a terrible nightmare, especially given how difficult it is for me to wake up these days. Fortunately, this was just a movie that me and my dad were watching. Also, there was a ghost in the form of a small cartoon dog.
So me and my dad were laughing at this movie (within the dream, remember) and then it went to commercial break. And this is where the interesting part of this dream happened.
The commercial was for Kay's Jewelers. You may know them from their unfairly catchy slogan that "every kiss begins with Kay." Meaning that if you don't shell out for their overpriced shiny rocks, you'll never get laid again.
As a minor digression, I've thought for a long time that jewelers are kind of scummy. I formed this impression many years ago, when the American Association of Rock Sellers (or whatever they call themselves) collectively decided that the proper amount of money to spend on a wedding set was "three months' salary." ALL the jewelers at the time (this was early-mid 90s iirc) had this advice in their commercials, whenever they advertised wedding sets. I thought even at the time, as someone who had never really worked, and I think even MORE firmly now, as someone who has worked a whole lot, that three months' salary is A SHITLOAD OF MONEY to be dropping into jewelry.
I mean, shit ... they expect you to shell out 1/4th of your annual income for A DECORATIVE ITEM?? I'm really glad that this meme never took off, and women don't actually expect their men to spend multiple thousands of dollars on a wedding set. My dad bought my mom's wedding ring for $25 and they've been married for more than 40 years. Love does not reside in a rock.
Anyway.
Not to diss on Kay or anything. Actually, in my dream it was pretty cool. Because although their unfair slogan was in my dream as well, the commercial depicted three women receiving jeweled necklaces (which had presumably be bought from Kay).
One got the necklace from a man.
One was putting it onto herself, and I expect she bought it for herself.
The third was receiving it from another woman. After which, the two of them snogged.
My thought (still in the dream) was that this commercial was totally going to end up wank material for the frat boy demographic.
My dad (still in the dream) was outraged that Kay was depicting a gay couple on their commercial. I was puzzled at this, and told him that they obviously did it this way because gay money is just as green as anyone else's, and they want lesbians to buy their overpriced shit for their lovers.
Shortly thereafter I woke up, and went about my day, but obviously this part of the dream stuck with me awhile. And after thinking about it a bit, I think that's how we'll know that sexual orientation civil rights has come of age. When you routinely see gays and lesbians in commercials on TV as a targeted demographic. That's how you'll know that discrimination against gays and lesbians is becoming socially unacceptable. The market will show it when it happens.
The greater context of the dream was some kind of kitschy Stephen King horror movie of badness, in which the evil possessed cat (a la Pet Semitary) rips off some people's faces. Grandma loses an eye and half her face, at which point she apparently also became possessed and turned to the protagonist, with a demand that he locate her missing eye for her. Then the camera zoomed in on her empty socket, wherein some kind of tiny demonic entity was cackling from what appeared to be another dimension within her head.
This could have had the makings of a terrible nightmare, especially given how difficult it is for me to wake up these days. Fortunately, this was just a movie that me and my dad were watching. Also, there was a ghost in the form of a small cartoon dog.
So me and my dad were laughing at this movie (within the dream, remember) and then it went to commercial break. And this is where the interesting part of this dream happened.
The commercial was for Kay's Jewelers. You may know them from their unfairly catchy slogan that "every kiss begins with Kay." Meaning that if you don't shell out for their overpriced shiny rocks, you'll never get laid again.
As a minor digression, I've thought for a long time that jewelers are kind of scummy. I formed this impression many years ago, when the American Association of Rock Sellers (or whatever they call themselves) collectively decided that the proper amount of money to spend on a wedding set was "three months' salary." ALL the jewelers at the time (this was early-mid 90s iirc) had this advice in their commercials, whenever they advertised wedding sets. I thought even at the time, as someone who had never really worked, and I think even MORE firmly now, as someone who has worked a whole lot, that three months' salary is A SHITLOAD OF MONEY to be dropping into jewelry.
I mean, shit ... they expect you to shell out 1/4th of your annual income for A DECORATIVE ITEM?? I'm really glad that this meme never took off, and women don't actually expect their men to spend multiple thousands of dollars on a wedding set. My dad bought my mom's wedding ring for $25 and they've been married for more than 40 years. Love does not reside in a rock.
Anyway.
Not to diss on Kay or anything. Actually, in my dream it was pretty cool. Because although their unfair slogan was in my dream as well, the commercial depicted three women receiving jeweled necklaces (which had presumably be bought from Kay).
One got the necklace from a man.
One was putting it onto herself, and I expect she bought it for herself.
The third was receiving it from another woman. After which, the two of them snogged.
My thought (still in the dream) was that this commercial was totally going to end up wank material for the frat boy demographic.
My dad (still in the dream) was outraged that Kay was depicting a gay couple on their commercial. I was puzzled at this, and told him that they obviously did it this way because gay money is just as green as anyone else's, and they want lesbians to buy their overpriced shit for their lovers.
Shortly thereafter I woke up, and went about my day, but obviously this part of the dream stuck with me awhile. And after thinking about it a bit, I think that's how we'll know that sexual orientation civil rights has come of age. When you routinely see gays and lesbians in commercials on TV as a targeted demographic. That's how you'll know that discrimination against gays and lesbians is becoming socially unacceptable. The market will show it when it happens.