The San Francisco Air America affiliate is running ads telling people to boycott the Gap -- a worthy target for boycott, but the ads are likely to backfire.
The ads portray teeangers talking in this Bill & Ted dialect, sounding very stupid as they discuss the Gap, and using slang terms like "bummer" that haven't been used by real-life teenagers in decades, if ever.
This offensive stereotyping is bound to make teenagers want to shop at the Gap just to piss back at the people behind the ad. That's why I wonder who's behind it.
The tobacco industry has used this kind of strategy, putting offensive ads in comic books and other places, telling kids not to smoke because they're not old enough to enjoy the wonderful freedom of smoking. The readers who don't read the fine print and see who paid for the ads think it's anti-smoking groups insulting teenagers with these ads, and then the teenagers perceive the way to fight back is to smoke.
I wonder if the Gap is pulling the same trick. Does anyone out there know who's behind these ads?