Steve Yastrow

Sometimes creative indulgence goes beyond the bounds of taste.

AT&T is running a series of ads for its Internet Connect service that show Bill Kurtis, holding a laptop in various out-of-the-way places, declaring, “I just found the Internet.”

Sounds like a great product, and the basic advertising idea is a good one.  But in one execution Kurtis tells viewers that he is on a deserted island as he holds his laptop with the AT&T Internet Connect card stuck in its slide.  He declares “I just found the Internet” while he stands in front of a crashed airplane that has “Amelia” painted on its side.

On July 2, 1937, the famous aviator Amelia Earhart, along with her flying partner Fred Noonan, disappeared over the Pacific during an attempt to fly around the globe.  They were never found, and were declared dead a year and a half later.

Sorry.  But this is just badvertising.  Those who don’t know about Amelia Earhart won’t get the reference, and those who do will (ought to?) find it in bad taste.

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