Over the past month, The Spin spent some time travelling and came across a couple of food-related gaffes that got us guffawing.
The first one at the airport was a bit ‘nuts’. The overcautious hosts left no stone unturned to warn those allergic to nuts. Clearly the term ‘almond-stuffed’ in the first line didn’t cut it, so the hosts stuffed nuts within parentheses into the tiny placard. We wonder: would translation into the local language have been a better use of the space on the second line? In a nutshell, it seemed nuts to mention (Nuts) as such, but it sure shelled out a laugh.
On the journey home from the airport, we came across another fun one on the Dubai Metro, which aimed to convey the buttery and creamy goodness of an Indian lentil dish called Daal Makhani. While the copy clearly targets a specific audience, stating, “Daal makhani so rich, nothing else matters,” the creative left us gaping open-mouthed, much like the patient on the dental chair. The creative shows the patient abandoned in the corner of a hospital room with mouth gags on, while the dentist dips into the dish. To say this is a bit unrealistic would be an understatement. What was probably meant to be a shot at exaggerated humour could have taken the train a stop a too far.
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Speaking of hospitals, The Spin received a cracking submission from New Zealand. The sign read, “Stop. Please do not enter our hospital if you’re feeling unwell. Thank you for helping us to keep our people safe.” Possibly time to rethink the purpose of a hospital? While the move toward proactive wellness checkups and preventative healthcare is good, perhaps this is taking it a bit too far? Makes us wonder whether the doctors at this hospital – if there are any – still abide by the Hippocratic oath to “do by my patients as I would be done by; shall obtain consultation whenever I or they desire”.
Another submission sent to The Spin showed communication gone completely awry. Here’s the supposed series of unfortunate events: Customers wanting to visit a particular store usually attempted pushing the door on the right, which unfortunately was jammed. When the door refused to budge, they assumed the shop was closed and moved on. The first notice – placed on the same jammed door – clarified, “Come in, we’re open”, which didn’t solve the problem as people reading the sign still pushed on the same door. Instead of switching the sign to the other door, the shopkeepers placed a second sign, “Please use other door”. Customers in a hurry read the first line “please use” and skipped over the second and third line “other door” and continued pushing on the same jammed door. In a final attempt to fix the problem, the store attendants put up a third sign stating “I am the other door”. Here’s the clincher, that didn’t work either, as customers attempting to open the “other door” landed up pushing, instead of pulling the correct door. Now, they’re considering adding a final sign saying “Pull”.
Finally, to close out The Spin for the month, a creative at a creative agency sent us the near-perfect bathroom wall scrawl.
