Sunday, November 08, 2009
Morse in Prudential advertisement
Prudential Insurance is running a series of TV ads using SOS in Morse.
Mixed feelings. On one hand it's nice to see an ad aimed at folks who are old enough to know what SOS is, and aimed at technical types of any age. On the other hand, the SOS is badly pronounced. The dots and dashes are all there, but the rhythm is wrong, so it sounds more like VMS than SOS.
An analogy for non-Morsians. Suppose a company wants to attract old movie fans, and it runs an ad with Clark Gable saying to Carole Lombard, "Frankly my dear, I don't give aaahhhdamn." What? Did he say Adam? Odd ham? Or a damn?
This is what happens when you trust book learning and Google, and fail to test the result on actual humans with actual experience. You get an ad that misses its target because the targeted listener is too puzzled to focus on the product.
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As a sidenote ... or perhaps sidetone ... Here's Shep discussing how Morse is used and misused in movies and other entertainment. Along the way he also covers Morse as a way of thought, Joseph Conrad, ionospheric skip, the Lake Erie Swing, and TV DXing. Naturally.
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Update 11/25: Prudential has changed the code in their ad, with perfect rhythm this time so it's unquestionably SOS, not VMS!
I'd been noticing lots of purposeful links to this entry, including some hits from Prudential itself. The search terms indicated that lots of other folks were perceiving the same problem. (i.e. "prudential morse wrong" and "prudential sos vms")
Feels good to witness a real consequence from what I write here, even though it's a tiny victory on a symbolic question.
Thanks, Prudential! ¶ 9:34 AM
Prudential Insurance is running a series of TV ads using SOS in Morse.
Mixed feelings. On one hand it's nice to see an ad aimed at folks who are old enough to know what SOS is, and aimed at technical types of any age. On the other hand, the SOS is badly pronounced. The dots and dashes are all there, but the rhythm is wrong, so it sounds more like VMS than SOS.
An analogy for non-Morsians. Suppose a company wants to attract old movie fans, and it runs an ad with Clark Gable saying to Carole Lombard, "Frankly my dear, I don't give aaahhhdamn." What? Did he say Adam? Odd ham? Or a damn?
This is what happens when you trust book learning and Google, and fail to test the result on actual humans with actual experience. You get an ad that misses its target because the targeted listener is too puzzled to focus on the product.
= = = = =
As a sidenote ... or perhaps sidetone ... Here's Shep discussing how Morse is used and misused in movies and other entertainment. Along the way he also covers Morse as a way of thought, Joseph Conrad, ionospheric skip, the Lake Erie Swing, and TV DXing. Naturally.
= = = = =
Update 11/25: Prudential has changed the code in their ad, with perfect rhythm this time so it's unquestionably SOS, not VMS!
I'd been noticing lots of purposeful links to this entry, including some hits from Prudential itself. The search terms indicated that lots of other folks were perceiving the same problem. (i.e. "prudential morse wrong" and "prudential sos vms")
Feels good to witness a real consequence from what I write here, even though it's a tiny victory on a symbolic question.
Thanks, Prudential! ¶ 9:34 AM
