Don’t Outsource Your Signs
Aug/092
by John Wilson
I get a great deal of enjoyment out of goofy signs. Remember the “Disabled Viewing Area” sign? As much as I travel, I run into some pretty funny ones. Here’s one I ran into recently:
Chik-fil-a proves it’s best not to outsource your signage
Main Disconect?
I go to this Chik-fil-a on North Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant, SC way too often. As I was sitting there the other night, just before you come to the window, I saw the sign to the right. Now, I think Chik-fil-a is the best fast food restaurant around. The food is great, the service is impeccable, and it’s way better than the alternatives.
This Chik-fil-a in particular gets tons of traffic because it is so new and it’s placed in a nice section of town (where people may look down their noses at McDonalds).
So, approximately a zillion people have seen this sign. My questions are:
- Has the manager?
- Where is the District Manager?
- The owner?
- Has anyone other than me?
- Can someone buy me a better camera?
WWTT #3: UTI.edu
Jul/091
by John Wilson 
WWTT is my new section called “What Were They Thinking.” I love to ask (typically out loud):
Were there 10 people sitting around a boardroom congratulating each other because they all thought this was a good idea?
In preparation for UFC 100, possibly the most excited I’ve been for a fight in a long time, I’ve been watching Spike’s “Top 100 Fights of All time.” About every other block of commercials they show one in particular for UTI.edu. The Universal Technical Institute is:
a nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.
Excuse me? I was thinking UTI “universally” stood for something else? Pretty much every human from an English-speaking industrialized nation (most likely UTI.edu’s main market) understands UTI as a Urinary Tract Infection.
So, assuming this wasn’t a strange ploy like Aciphex to get attention, how many intelligent people did it take to sit around that board room and say… “Our offering is Technical… wait wait, and we’re an instittute…” I still follow them there… but what about the Universal part?
The definition of “universal” is so generic that it offers nothing to the name of the company. This is where they had the opportunity to bail themselves out and save face. I can understand if your name is “John Wilson” then you don’t have much choice but to name the college JWI.edu. But they chose to use “universal” which completes the UTI trifecta.
It almost makes me think that the name was a ploy to get people like me, watching Spike TV, with the humor level of a 12 year old, to laugh, talk about them and even go to their website. It worked, but this is still a really stupid name.
WWTT #2: Disabled Viewing Area
Jun/091
What were they thinking with this one?
Seriously?
I saw this sign at a friend of mine’s son’s t-ball game today (Go Red Sox!). The sign sits about chair height right beside the normal metal bleachers typical to community baseball fields.
These bleachers are the ONLY place to sit on the whole field, leaving tons of room for lawn chairs, wheel chairs, or whatever…
I have a few questions:
- Is the view disabled?
- Do you need to have disabled viewing to sit here?
- Is the view disabled because there is a sign right where the game is going on?
- Is the word “disabled” politically correct? Do you thing the viewing area is offended?
- On a normal sized community baseball field, with only enough bleachers for 15 people, is a “disabled viewing section” really necessary?
Photograph by John Wilson
WWTT #1: Aciphex
Jun/092
WWTT is my new section called “What Were They Thinking.” I love to ask (typically out loud):
Were there 10 people sitting around a boardroom congratulating each other because they all thought this was a good idea?
First up on this column: Aciphex.
Ass Effects?
I seriously rolled off the couch when this commercial came on for the first time. You’ll run into it on TV (see below), they play it a ton.
I’m not kidding – Aciphex is pronounced – (Ass-e-fects) Ass Effects.
To top it off – it is the most expensive of the acid reflux medicines currently on the market (sourced from http://www.destinationrx.com/)
I get that it is an acid reflux medicine, but SOMEONE at the company had to snicker when whomever came up with this said it out loud for the first time. I can see the VP of Marketing combining a few of the words from their brainstorming session together to spell A-C-I-P-H-E-X. What I can’t see is how someone didn’t blurt out: That’s what she said!