Hmm!

I recall some years back, while sitting in a restaurant, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation at the next table over. There sat a man and a woman and their daughter. The daughter was in her early twenties and had recently graduated from college where she had majored in Business. Advertising. And she was home for a brief vacation over Christmas from her new job with a New York ad agency.

I wasn't intentionally eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but hear what they were talking about . The young woman was bragging to her parents about some of the ad campaigns she had worked on and written ad copy for. The more she talked, the more appalling she began to sound. Apparently this young woman was perfect for the job because she seemed to have absolutely no ethical sense whatsoever. It sounded as if she would say damned near anything to come up with a catchy phrase or gimmick to sell a product. Several times, when she quoted a sample of her work, her father would say something like, "But, honey, that isn't true!" Or "Is that ethical?" She just ignored it and proudly went on to her next brag.

At one point, I saw the mother and father exchange a horror-stricken glance that said eloquently, "What have we spawned!? We should have drowned her at birth!"

Don Firth