Stacy and I had a disturbing realization yesterday. We were driving surface streets across the South Bay to a particular store we wanted to go to that was about 15 miles away. As we drove we started noticing and noting all the businesses that were closed or closing. There seemed to be one or two on every block. While the "economic crisis" has been all the buzz on the news of late, it hadn't actually seemed to make it too far into daily life in L.A. At least I hadn't noticed. Sure, business has been a little slower at work these days, and the shopping centers did seem less chaotic over the holidays, but it didn't strike me as real until yesterday.It was a rather sobering introduction into 2009. Here's hope and prayers that all the dire predictions of the news buzz will be shown to be overstated.
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But, going out of business may not always be a bad thing. One of the not-so-good associations I have with Southern California are the never ending "Levitz" ads that show up on TV. I guess I can safely assume that those are no more? Maybe it's "survival of the fittest" for the commercial world--the more annoying the commercial, the less customers?
I don't watch local TV enough to have seen the Levitz commercials or know if they are still around, but I do have a very memory of a commercial that bugged the crap out of me when I was a kid. It was a 30 second commercial showing a close-up of a spinning ceiling fan. The image never changed (other than the spinning) while the voice over repeated in a somewhat unexcited voice: "Hunter ceiling fans, now at Target. Hunter ceiling fans, now at Target. Hunter ceiling fans, now at Target..." For 30 seconds. I wanted to hang myself each time it came on. Sure, I remember the ceiling fan manufacturer and the store that carried them, but I would never in a million years buy one simply because of that infernal commercial!
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