I Know That's Not What They Mean, But ...

I was just watching CNN and a new, and admittedly clever, AARP ad came on. It's got a shiny, sparkly candidate singing about how wonderful he is personally, but "don't ask me about Social Security." Obviously, Social Security is and should be a huge deal for the AARP --- and probably ought to be for more people at that. The ad was really well done, right up until the end, when they show the name of the website they've set up detailing which candidates support Social Security. The name of the website, believe it or not, is www.dontvote.com. Now, I know AARP isn't actually suggesting that one not vote at all, but rather "Don't vote until you know where the candidates stand on the issues." Still, "dontvote.com" doesn't exactly strike me as "le mot just", as it were.

In fact, the other spot seems even worse, although it's equally attention-grabbing and lays the foundation for the site/campaign name. That one should probably have been the first spot, although I don't particularly care for the idea of saying don't vote under any circumstances. Also, of course, after I watched the commercial I couldn't remember whether it was .org or .com. Check out the former.