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Joined: Mar 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I can't believe it!
I drive past GAP and there it is. Another of their attempts at American Cultural Imperialism. Why?
Last year, I complained about their "HOLIDAYS ARE HERE" campaign which left many people here rather bemused thinking "I took my holidays in the summer - why is there a picture of a child all wrapped up in warm clothes - is the child going on a holiday? ...."
This year the sign says "FALL SALE" - does this mean that they are selling items that "fell off the back of a lorry", or are they worried about falling sales/market share. Of course we all (I think) know what "fall" means in the USA, it just happens to be called "Autumn" here - what's wrong with a sign saying "Autumn Sale"? - surely they have signs in French and Spanish when they have shops in those countries. Why do they fail to acknowledge that we have our own language too!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Why do they fail to acknowledge that we have our own language too!It's even worse in Canada, probably because we're right next door and they assume that we're clones without ever bothering to ask. I'm not sure if that makes you feel better. But at least you know you're not alone!  
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, Jo, possibly the signs were shipped from the States; I don't know. I will say that I have been told by a beloved Brit-speaker that I ought to learn to speak English! But maybe I should tell him to learn American: recently he used a slang expression that HE thought changed the antecedent insult to show that he was making a joke. Instead, though, it served to emphasize the seriousness; quite rocked me back on my heels, till I asked, I can tell you.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
There is, of course, the simple fact that the USn use of holiday is etymologically more defensible.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Well if it makes me feel any better, Gap and most other American stores insult the intelligence of Americans (perhaps considered an oxymoron by many British...) too.
We use "autumn" here as well as "fall." They're more or less interchangeable, with autmn being slightly more formal, having a whopping two syllables.
U.S. retailers love the time between October and January because there is pretty much a holiday per month, leading up to their biggest money maker, Christmas. Hence "the holiday" season is the time when shoppers are more easily separated from their money. It can be rather nauseating (or as many of my patients say, "nauseratin") to see Christmas decorations up in stores well in advance of any real cultural feelings that the Christmas season has arrived.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
There is, of course, the simple fact that the USn use of holiday is etymologically more defensible
Except for the fact that the choice of the word holiday by retailers is dictacted by their desire not to appear to prefer/offend any particular religion's holy day. In fact, in ad campaigns, holiday has quite an un-religious meaning.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Except for the fact...
Yer in line behind Shona.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Yer in line behind Shona.
Huh???? [confused]
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Huh????
For replacing me as chief nitpicker.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
i know you raise the issue last year, and i think i recall that the subject was "talked about', but did it have a real negitive impact? or did it just make everyone notice, comment, and think about The Gap? and if it did, maybe the ad succeded in way you might not have thought of... after all you still remember last years add, and with all the real information you have to deal with, for an add to imbed itself in you consciousness, well that is an acheivement isn't it?
from an Ad man's point of view, Holidays are here was a very successfull ad!
it most likely hasn't annoyed you enought to say, 'i am never shopping there" (and even if it did, your kids might have other ideas!) so you are more aware of the gap as a result of advertizing.. scary isn't it?
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