May 1, 2008
The Biggest Looser
We're happy to report that the looser who sat behind you in Grade 12 English class just got a job as a copy writer. You always knew that he'd make his mark on the world in some way, didn't you?
How exactly does such a glaring mistake make it through all of the design and approval stages that must be required before an ad like this is even printed? Interestingly, they managed to spell it right on their web site, though they also managed to misspell one of their company names ("Wed Direct Solutions") in the footer on all of their sites. Who needs quality control anyway? Certainly not a company selling "healthy lifestyle" products.
Photo by Val Dodge
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Perhaps they're referring to how all that extra skin will look once the fat is gone.
Maybe their product doesn't work, so they mangled their ad so as not to be held liable for false advertising.
And to add insult to injury, that's probably an illegal advertising pillar...
Clearly they're using "loose" as a verb:
"to shoot; discharge; let fly: to loose missiles at the invaders. "
That's cutting edge advertising, people.
LOL. So cutting edge they paired it up with the Gold Seal Tuna.
A combo made in ad heaven.
I think your all being to hard on them. Their doing the best they can!
Spelling lose as loose is one of my biggest pet peeves. You wouldn't believe how many people do it...it's sadly pretty common.
There's a similar ad for a rheumatism patch on a building on Spadina near Queen. When I saw this one I pretty much assumed it was more lame viral marketing crap along the lines of the Obay thing. I haven't bothered to go to the URL though.
Spell check.
Maybe they've a double o becuase there's a double o in "Hoodia".
missing a "used" and I need a spell check for "because"
I ughree with Bleb! Your being insensative just because their are sum speling misteaks!
I meen, searyuslee, sum peeple spel fonetically and they du the best they can.
Is you're speling ne bettor?
@Vincent: Hope your joking, since theirs nothing a spell cheque wood fix.
Since I am probably going to be a future unemployed copy editor or journalist, this makes me sad. People like us are trained to know the difference between "loose" and "lose," and we're supposed to eventually work for companies like these who have 15 year olds running their marking departments.
Someone has got to do the digging and find out what company did the ad, and who messed up. This calls for public shaming. I expect nothing less than the guilty party to be stoned with weight-loss products in Nathan Phillips Square. I will accept, however, he or she submitting to sitting on stage during an entire Pretty Porky Pissed Off troupe performance.
Perhaps the word is actually a reference to possibly colonic side effects of using the patch?
Jeezus.
To add to this: There's a giant fancy, printed sign in the window of the Reitman's in Dufferin Mall right now that reads:
CAPRI'S
The apostrophe ones kill me. It's actually correct to do less thinking and not use one.
OOH! I just did it myself! I looked it up, and the store is just "Reitmans", not "Reitman's".
Burn on me.
Those are known as Greengrocers' Apostrophes.
What kills me the most, though, is question mark abuse. Throwing on a question mark does not make a sentence into a question. It's fine if you want to talk like that, but writing "I thought they went to the mall?" means "did I think they went to the mall?" and not "didn't they go to the mall?".
That's pretty brutal. I don't understand how these advertisements make it sometimes. Don't they have fact checkers?
Considering the previous article (Can't Buy Me Love) asks if we're looking to "stalk" up on snacks, I don't think you guys are in much of a position to throw stones.
The funniest thing about this article is the fact that you spelled copywriter wrong.
- one of those looser copywriters
Bear in mind, prettydeviant, that we're a website (with dozens of writers, including a copy editor!) publishing thousands of words a day—words we can change if we make a mistake (and we do occasionally make mistakes)—not a company spending several hundred (or more?) dollars to create an advertisement with eight words, and pay several hundred dollars more to publicly display it on an ad pillar downtown. We're not malicious, just having fun; I'll gladly defend bad grammar sometimes.
Saw one of these posters near the Parkdale library this morning on the same sort of ad pillar. It had the correct spelling of "lose." Don't know whether it's the same exact poster, with corretion, or a different one and only certain posters have the mistake.
There's one at the corner of Armoury St and Centre Ave downtown. It is spelled correctly. There's another one on the walk home. Now it's going to bug me until I check it out too.