"Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think."
-Michel de Montaigne

Saturday, December 10, 2011

OF: Ridiculous, Mildly Offensive, & Politically Incorrect Ads Found in Travel Magazines

Since I'm broke and can't afford to travel right now, I decided to cozy up with the world via Conde Nast Traveler. And in the process of traversing the globe in 148 glossy pages I learned a few things about luxury, and culture, and globalism, and that advertisements really CAN offer us products and services that enrich our lives. They can also teach us valuable things about wealth and being an international citizen in the 21st century.


I mean, just take a look at some of these beauties...


1) LUXURY TRAVEL MAKES YOU SEXY. YOU GLOBE-TROTTING-SEX-KITTEN, YOU!

Also, staying at this hotel will totally make it okay to ride a Vespa while wearing peep-toe pumps and a cocktail dress. Bonus points for the vintage helmet and riding glasses. Look at all the men in the lobby grooving on my traveling-single-white-girl-rides-a-motocicleta vibe!


2) TEXAN MEN ARE THE NATURAL CHOICE FOR BEEFING-UP ITALIAN COLOGNE ADS

Real men wear DOLCE & GABBANA. They also lounge about with unbuttoned shirts & perfectly man-scaped chests. Mmm. Must buy. Mmm Matthew McConaughey, y'all.



3) SPA RESORTS ARE WARM, WELCOMING PLACES...LIKE VAGINAS

Cause what's sexier than overtly suggesting that your luxury hotel and spa is like a vagina? Also, spa vacations get you laid.

...and speaking of spas...

4) ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS ARE THE BEST PLACES FOR SEAWEED WRAPS!

You know, like, um Egypt--where they're totally having a revolution?



5) HAVING MONEY MEANS YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN REALITY 

I choose the India without the pesky poverty, please-and-thank-you! SUCH a bummer.



6) REAL RELAXATION HAPPENS IN A PASTRY-SHAPED CABANA

Celebrity Cruises: Relax inside of a cupcake. I hear Beyonce is doing it.



7) TRAVELING TO CANADA MAY CAUSE FIERCE FLATULENCE

Toronto: the break-windy city. Blame it on the duck fat.


8) IT'S TOTALLY SAFE TO SNAP PICS OF CHEETAHS FROM AN EXPOSED VEHICLE
 maul.

You too can lay on top of one of God's slain creatures. Cox & King's African Safaris, since 1940. 



9) FOR A PRICE YOU CAN RELIVE YOUR DAYS AS A ZYGOTE

 Return to the womb for five days and four nights. Oh, and enjoy Mexico.



10) HAVING MONEY MEANS YOU DON'T NEED REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS 

This would be funny if the tag line wasn't at least partially serious: clairvoyance is a job requirement. I mean, at least they're honest right? I can think of several jobs over the course of my adult life that should've had this in the job ad somewhere above or below "proficient in Microsoft Office."



11) IF YOUR LIFE IS MISERABLE, ALCOHOL IS THE ANSWER.

If all of this bread-winning-luxury doesn't fill you up or support real human intimacy, you can always drink  yourself into a stupor.