AOL Computer Checkup

This ad has been making me angry for six months,
and I can't keep it to myself any longer!

The ad shows a young couple from the waist down,
arguing about what's wrong with the computer and how to fix it.
Meanwhile, a toddler with a plastic hammer
uncontrollably bangs away at the mouse and keyboard.

The tyke is momentarily interrupted by a weak and ineffective
"Sweetie, could you stop that?" from the Mother Of The Year.



What could possibly be wrong with the computer?
I dunno, maybe Bam Bam beat the crap out of it
while you were arguing about how to program the VCR,
yet another 3-second easy task that advertisers think we can't perform.

Here's the kicker: by bashing the computer's mouse, Terror Tyke
accidentally activates the AOL Computer Check-Up,
a diagnosics and repair program provided by... AOL.

Give me a break.
If you would trust the stability of your PC to America Online
then you deserve to be insulted like this.

The parents - and these, o consumer, are meant to represent you -
finally regain awareness of their surroundings
long enough to give us a cartoony "What the...!"



Har har guffaw! Ouch, my side.
Wow, imagine. Dumb people can use AOL.
It's what they've been telling us for years, folks.
Join AOL and you too can use something
as complicated and difficult as the internet.

Or your own VCR.