Tchotchke Alert

When I blogged about catchy tchotchkes, I never expected I'd find something like this. When I went to work today, I discovered that someone has left some curious objects in the employee coat room. These objects are two things; they are advertisements for the show My Boys on TBS, and they are condoms. The one I picked up bears the epigraph "I won't make you cuddle."

Asking around, I've discovered that this is actually not the first occurance of My Boys condoms being left around here. Since you need a key to get into the coat room, it must be someone who works here.

Could this be an instance of guerilla marketing that I don't immediately want to roll my eyes at? Maybe; I'm not sure where the condoms are coming from, if the person leaving them is actually in the employ of TBS or if they just came by a bunch of them and decided to have some fun. I can't find anything about My Boys condoms on google. And I am actually rolling my eyes at that slogan, to tell the truth.

Anyway, it's clear the folks at TBS are behind them, however they happened to end up here. I don't watch My Boys, but I checked out its website, and they seem to have the right idea. They have it set up so you can watch episodes online for free, and they've got a MySpace page that links to a blog "written" by the main character, plus a few other nifty features. What it comes down to is that they've got their target audience nailed (ooohh, bad pun, bad pun) and know how to reach them.

Looking at the website, My Boys doesn't seem like a show I'd watch. The "About the Show" section describes the main character as "a typical young single woman--smart, attractive, outgoing, personable," which raises a red flag for me, because smart, attractive, outgoing, and personable describes a very small percentage of people from any age group, sex, or marital status that I've met. It also says that "the men she tries to date don't know how to react to her unconventional interests," which really baffles me. Guys are turned off to her because she's a sports reporter who likes to do guy things? I don't use this word often, but... wtf?

Still, I'm glad to see that someone's weird ideas are being put into action with this show. Even though they haven't got me hooked, the fact that a TV show can use condoms to advertise restores a little bit of the faith I'd lost through all the times I've heard about formulas and headache-inducing experiences with TV producers.

Last but not least, I need to make a little public service announcement here. In the event that you come by TV show condoms, it is not advisable to use them for intercourse, no matter how much you may like the show. Yes, I do talk about the importance of independent operations fairly often, but this is one instance where they aren't beneficial. Use a trusted brand such as Durex or Trojan.

Anyway...