Having driven I-15 between South Jordan and Idaho Falls quite a bit these past two weeks, I've noticed a huge number of billboards. I almost think there are more billboards on I-15 in Northern Utah than there are on the entire stretch of I-80 (which runs almost 3000 miles).
In any case, a few things I noticed.
A huge number of billboards focusing on plastic surgery. Must be a Utah thing.
A billboard for doctors that referred to the children's song "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." Nothing like a silly children's song to give you confidence in your doctor...
A "Pass it On" billboard with a picture of Jackie Robinson and the statement, "Here's to you Mr. Robinson." Nothing like a reference to the Simon and Garfunkel song about an adulterous woman going after a young man to praise a pioneer in civil rights...I've seen that billboard before, and I really wish its owners would realize how stupid and offensive it is and take it down.
There were also quite a few clever billboards. Nothing, however, nearly as good as this:
That's just incredibly awesome. Although I've got to wonder if it negatively affects the amount of business those vending machines, etc. get.
4 comments:
I, too, have noticed that there seem to be an awful lot of billboards in the SLC area. And about the plastic surgery ones: It IS as UT thing. We learned a couple months ago that there are more plastic surgeons in SLC per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Kind of sad when you think about it...
I hate hate HATE all those billboards. As if 12 lanes of pavement wasn't ugly enough, they add all those billboards. And as if the drivers weren't bad enough (distracted by all their kids perhaps? or already running on 'mormon standard time'?) then they have all this reading material to distract them further. Whose asinine idea was this anyway. Ugh.
I can tell you why the plastic surgery though: It's a mormon mentality about trying to be perfect. Have you heard of "Sandy Candy"? aka anti-depressants? I don't have specific statistics, but I have heard from multiple sources that "Happy Valley" stays happy with medication, and that anti-depressant rates are higher there than anywhere in the country.
It's sad really. The gospel is supposed to make people happier, not make them feel like they can never keep up...
I think part of the high anti-depressant rates has to do with a refusal to self-medicate (with alcohol or other drugs). It would be interesting to see reliable statistics comparing those two numbers combined. As a former law school student, I can assure you that huge numbers of people self-medicate with alcohol. I assume those numbers are much lower in Utah.
Of course, there may be other factors involved too.
The plastic surgery thing? I think it's a lot like the McMansions and the enormous cars. Too many materialistic people with too much money.
I always thought the Foundation for a Better Life people were LDS or that it was just a front for the Church, because their ads are so much like the "Family, isn't it about...time" ads. But here is a link to the wikipedia article about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_for_a_Better_Life
Post a Comment