Something we could do without!

Most advertising we could do without, really, but this particular brand of advertising really chaps my hide...

Alltel ad making fun of people who play D&D

Society labels and stereotypes people all the time. In this case, the ad portrays the hero (Alltel guy) as a real cool, down to earth dude - despite his atrocious hairstyle - and his opposition (representatives of other networks) as the biggest, nerdiest, lamest losers ever. Then, to drive the point home, he simultaneously associates such a loser with Dungeons and Dragons, and implies that that fact reinforces their loser-ness.

I don't even play Dungeons and Dragons. I maybe played it 3 times in my life. So why do I care? Well, because I'm exactly the kind of person who would play D&D, and I'd like to think I'm not the "lame, nerdy, geek, loser" which this ad portrays.

This is really not the PR people like me need.

If any of you ad whizes are listening, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd prefer you to keep that crap to yourself, thanks.