Monday, March 05, 2007

We Need More of This on TV

There's a commercial I've seen on TV for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, lately that pretty well summarizes the difference between skepticism and woo like "The Secret."

For those with video difficulties: A group of people are riding in a cable car when it suddenly stops and shakes. One "helpful" individual starts preaching the gospel of positive thinking, gets the woman to groom herself and smile, citing the power of a positive image, etcetera. Meanwhile, a guy sitting in the back notices an "Emergency Start" button and presses it. The cable car starts back up just in time for Mr. Positive Thinking to take credit.

Now imagine if all the other occupants spouted invectives to the skeptic for claiming that pushing the button was what solved the problem.

Kudos to Bourgeois_Rage for providing the link in a comment, and RBS for making the commercial. I don't know much about money shuffling, but the financially inclined may want to give them an extra point in favor of dealing with them.

2 comments:

Clint Bourgeois said...

Wow, you got that up fast.

I think the woman's reaction at the end hits home the most.

Anonymous said...

Isn't the guy that presses the button Neil Flynn? Flynn plays the janitor on Scrubs.