The Happy Moron

Today I noticed that a TV ad had been subtly edited from its original version – one of the actors’ expressions had been altered. I wonder how costly it is to retroactively edit a TV ad.

This particular ad was for a cell phone with all the regular bells and whistles – camera, internet connectivity, etc. In this case the phone’s extra shiny was a keyboard. The hook for the phone was that a poor loser’s friends could photograph him, post it to Facebook and mock him on their Walls, all in the space of seconds.

The actual edit was to soften the reaction of a girl who in the previous rendition had given her loser friend a look which essentially said “You’re a loser and we keep you around to help us feel better about ourselves.” The ad had an uncomfortable feel to it, and I don’t blame them for editing it – it wasn’t exactly the best way to sell a phone.

Who can blame the loser friend for feeling uncomfortable that his ‘friends’ are mocking him in a worldwide forum? Why should viewers be anything *but* creeped out by the fact that their peers all carry cameras, all the time, and can instantaneously share footage with a global audience?

Why would the vendor of such an experience ever want to bring up the abuses that an untrustworthy friend (or even just a careless one) could commit?