| Tuesday, March 4, 2003 |
00:45 - Candy Bars Make You Illiterate
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Nestlé has a new candy bar with an ad campaign whose architect I want to punch. It's a chocolate confection that, according to the youthful-sounding announcer, is infused with a substance called "carmel".
I don't know what this "carmel" stuff is, but from the look of it it bears a striking resemblance to caramel-- same color, same thick sticky consistency. One might be forgiven for thinking they might be the same thing.
Subtext: I cannot stand the mispronunciation of "caramel". Ever since my early youth it's driven me up the wall. (Likewise with hapless tour guides at candy factories unlucky enough to have me visit.)
What's worse, though, is that one of the ads in this campaign actually plays on this mispronunciation tendency-- and while giving lip service to the fact that these multiple pronunciations of the word "caramel" exist, it concludes with the same announcer referring to the stuff as carmel.
To wit: two guys are sitting on some steps in front of a city apartment block, eating one of these candy bars. The one guy, who can read, calls it caramel. He's fairly adamant about it, too; but his compatriot, seemingly oblivious to the repetition of the letter A in the word, or to the evidence presented in any reliable online dictionary, or to the etymological information to be found therein (calamellus mellitus, or sugar cane), persists in calling it carmel. He even pummels his buddy over the head for insisting upon the three-syllable variant, right before handing over control of the meme to his disembodied announcer friend.
Let's review, then:
- Caramel is a "burnt-sugar" confectionary material frequently used in candy bars.
- Carmel is a town on the California coast frequented by tourists.
Got that, Nestléee?
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