>Is it the actual product or do you recall something else in the
>commercial?  Most people recall something in the commercial.
 
Very well reasoned and informative post.  I used to be in luxury sales
(then in retail sales mgmt bringing up the numbers for difficult stores)
before going to college as an adult, and since then worked for a while in
Public Relations, even heading one effort, although my college studies
were based on sciences.  One of the things that people learn is that the
very refusal that people have in terms of thinking that they or their
attitudes can be influenced HELPS those who are trying to manipulate.
People who know that advertising has effects are harder to sell, but
those who figure "It's only an ad." are far easier to get to think your
way and are easy-sells.  "Just an ad" is a phrase the companies
themselves use when they want to have an even greater bang for their
buck.  That down-play is a short-cut way to reduce discussion and reduce
awareness of the sales game involved, making softer targets.  It is so
much the norm and has been promulgated so long and so well by companies
that their very targets repeat it as if it were a truism while the
opposite is the true effect.
 
Remember that joke about diplomacy: "Diplomacy is the art of letting
people have things your way."
 
There is a public-education result of the "Daily Show" having a regular
segment on ads.  That marvelous show manages to get a decent bit of
hilarious learning accomplished about news, assumptions, and
manipulation.
 
I have to also agree with the person who said that Verizon is not taking
the responses of ferret people seriously, but I'd suggest two different
or additional actions.  Drop items you have from OTHER Verizon divisions,
like their DSL service, and tell them why.  Those divisions have no
reason to have loyalty to a different division's ad campaign and they
won't want negative spill-over.  Doing this can stir the waters
internally in Verizon since they bundle items and are divisions rather
than separate companies.  Meanwhile, let their competitors know that
there are 7 million ferrets in U.S.  families and that cute (positive)
ferret ads would play very well when their competitor is actively
driving people away with negative ads.  I'd bet that right now Verizon's
competitors would LOVE to buy subscriber lists and membership lists from
ferret publications and major clubs for targeted direct mail.
 
>Regardless of intent, we must focus on what advertisers are really
>saying.  And without our input, >they won't know the difference.
 
BRAVO!
 
>So far Parris has no symptoms of lymphoma, other than blood test results.
 
MANY years ago vet and researcher, Susan Brown, postulated that
certain blood test results MAY be indicative SPECIFICALLY of
lymphoma/lymphosarcoma in ferrets.  Her own research as well as that of
others found that this is NOT the case.  Those results can be produced by
other things such as systemic infections as well.  Certain blood test
results mean that the next steps: trying to treat a possible infection,
or pulling a node and sending it to a ferret-knowledgeable veterinary
pathologist are needed.
 
Hemolytic anemia is one of the not often seen but fatal complications of
adrenal neoplasia and one of multiple reasons why surgery simply makes
sense for the vast majority of such ferrets.
 
Sukie
For ferret health information:
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth (Ferret Health List)
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ (easy to search FHL Archives)
http://geocities.com/sukieslist (in need of updating, links for
health concerns)
[Posted in FML issue 3881]