Alert reader Susan sent me this website one day Manboobs.co.uk. This site is great, and men can post pictures of their manboobs on there and have viewers rate them. That's awesome. However, I was disturbed by the large number of pictures posted of men with unnatural manboobs. They are either implants or homonally enhanced. Not fair. Here is the letter I sent to Manboobs on this matter:

Dear Manboobs.co.uk -

Love the site. I congratulate you and all the other fat men out there who are so proud of their manboobs. However, I must express disappointment in the inclusion of men whose manboobs are the result of hormones. They are cheating! These guys belong on a tranny site or something, not here. It does a disservice and is inherently unfair to all the men who have come by their manboobs naturally and who had to overcome deep-rooted manboob shame to gloriously rise and shout to the world "Yes! I have manboobs! Hear me roar!".

Thank you.

Cynthia

Lamo Latino

Email I just sent to Sirius Satellite Radio.

"Let me begin by saying that I have had both XM and Sirius, at the same time even, because we bought two different new cars which each came with different satellite radio providers. When the included subscriptions expired, we renewed Sirius and let XM go. The reason being that we found Sirius to be far superior in music selections. But there is one big failing, which is why I'm writing. I want to request that you get a good reggaeton music channel. The channel you currently have ("Rumbon") is, I'm sorry to say, totally lame. I hate to bring up your competitor, but please look to XM's station "Fuego" for a very good example of how this station should be. Thank you! "

From the Horse's Mouth

OK. I know you may think that this blog has some kind of "obsession" with Digger at the moment... but, I took Cynthia's advice and contacted the ad agency directly -- Deutsch, Inc. in NY:

I know the Lamisil ads (with Digger) are *extremely* effective (and informative), but did your advertisers have to make them so disgusting? Literally, they give me and everyone I know the heeby-jeebies.

When everyone was in the boardroom (employees and client) viewing the final ad campaign, didn't all of you just cringe when Digger lifted up the toenail like a carhood? I gotta know. You all get the heeby-jeebies too, don't you? Come on... admit it.

Their response:

Yes. However, it is extremely effective in helping people come to terms with the fact that they have a problem. It also avoids the necessity of having to show actual pictures of a real toe with fungus, which in my opinion is actually worse [true. true.].

The campaign has been very effective, and apparently more and more people continue to seek treatment and get help. And that's the real success of the campaign.

I'm sorry it gave you the heeby-jeebies, but perhaps if you had the condition and were concerned/self conscious, maybe it would have hit you in a different way. Who knows?

Thanks for the feedback.

Matthew A.
Vice President, Business Development

I see their point. It's only intended to gross out those people with the real problem. Unfortunately, the rest of us are just collateral damage.

Thank you for your interest in Lamisil

Since we're still on the subject of the Lamisil Toenail Monster. Digger. You know? The dermatophyte. He only wants to lift your toenail up like a car hood (screeeeeetch) and get into your nail bed. (Shivers)

Who knew there was a fine line between cute (as in cartoons are *supposed* to be cute) and utterly disgusting? I'm talking -- making the hairs on your arms rise, actually blowing chunks -- disgusting. You've got to have a special talent (given to you by Beelzebub himself) to turn people's stomachs from a CARTOON.

I decided to write a letter to Novartis (the makers of Lamisil) to see how they would respond to my complaint:

"I just wanted to let you know that the Lamisil commercial (you know the ones with Digger?) make the hair on my arms stand straight up. Personally, this commercial gives me (and ALL of my friends and family members) the heeby-jeebies. Perhaps your marketing strategy was to gross out the American public so bad that we were literally FORCED to remember the disgusting way Digger lifts up the toenail like a hatch? Well, mission accomplished. I guess a less disgusting ad wouldn't have been as effective, huh?"

Their Response:

"Thank you for your interest [interest?] in Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. We received your email from our Lamisil website and appreciate you taking the time to contact Novartis. Your comments regarding our Lamisil Tablets commercial have been forwarded to the appropriate department for their review and records.
Sincerely,

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Customer Interaction Center."

Ok, so it wasn't funny OR insightful. Maybe I should find out which advertising agency was responsible for it and write to them. They should be able to provide more "insight".

Pleasing Advertisements

This letter is in complaint of the ad I was getting the other day on Yahoo Mail. All day long the only ad I was getting, on both the side and the top banner, was an animated cartoon of a nasty-ass diseased toenail. You know the one I'm talking about - the one where in the animation the toenail is lifted like a hatch door? That's the part that bothers me the most. Anyway, here is my letter to Yahoo! about it.

Dear Yahoo!

Please, I beg of you, get rid of those disgusting toenail fungus medication ads. Even though they are only an animated cartoon, they are truly disgusting and give me (and my friends) the heeby-jeebies. It wouldn't be so bad if the ad appeared only occassionally but today it is like that is the only client you have!

Their response:

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Customer Care. We appreciate your comments and feedback regarding advertising on Yahoo!. Our services are made available in part by the ads that you view while using Yahoo!. While we attempt to choose advertisements that will be pleasing [they thought this would be pleasing??], we understand that not all ads will appeal to all of our users.