Manipulation by Advertising, or "What Happens in Vegas?"

Well, so there's this movie, "What Happens in Vegas." It is a little annoying, since it brings to mind the really moronic tagline I started hearing about 3 or 4 years ago give or take a few, that claims that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

And now, they've turned it into an ad. As if.

Come on, folks.

Is anyone that stupid?

It's obviously an attempt to start this mystique about Las Vegas, where everyone keeps their shenanigans some kind of big secret. It's manipulation by advertising. Get weak minded people thinking that there's some honor about keeping all the whoop-de-doo you do in this one place secret, or, conversely, that there's some dishonor about revealing the details of the revels.

It's insulting to every person whose significant other goes off to Vegas and cheats on them, or loses the money they had plans for together, or even to the people who get fooled by this stupid philosophy itself.

Ok, ok, enough about that - so it's a pretty annoying ad campaign.

So then, here comes this new ad. It's all about how thinking is hard, it hurts, animals don't think, they just do - claw, run, whatever, I forget exactly what it said but it is just so much more stupid than that last thing. The idea is: don't think, just go to Vegas!

I'm so glad I went back to school and am putting in all the effort learning bio and chemistry and going for the pre-med thing. It is the end of the semester and I'm getting a little tired, the end in sight, not doing as well as I hoped I would in this chemistry class, but I have learned a lot about studying and my own process, and believe I will do better as I go forward. This ad, now, just reinforces my belief that I'm doing the right thing and all the hard work and pain is worth it. Because I know one thing, and that is that going to Las Vegas and dropping a whole lot of hard-earned money in that swamp isn't worth it.

Don't do it, folks! Don't go to Vegas and think your secrets will be kept. Don't fall prey to the "do the easy thing" idiocy they are trying to promote now. They want you dumb and happy. They want you to work like an animal most of the year and then go there on your vacation and give them all the extra money you made. And maybe some that isn't extra; they don't care. Bet the rent, lose your house, it's all the same to them.

Instead, go back to school. Get a GED if you didn't graduate from high school. Get an associates degree if you never went to college, or a BA if you went but never graduated. You'll qualify for a higher-paying and more satisfying job, than what you are doing now, guaranteed. This is not a gamble. Increase your education, increase your income.

Don't listen to the marketers, folks! Ads lie.