Friday December 16, 2005

Above the Law

You have to think that the folks at New York agency Kaplan Thaler knew that they were making a play on words in their recent campaign for Marshalls, they just didn’t understand what they were making a play of words on. They couldn’t have, right? “Martial law,” according to Webster’s, is “the law administered by military forces that is invoked by a government in an emergency when the civilian law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety.” Kind of like what we’ve got in Iraq. And this makes me want to shop for bargains how?

“Marshalls Plan” would have made a happier—if no less ridiculous—tagline.

UPDATE: Whoops. Forgot to mention this story I found in the late, great Weekly Week, which made hay of the Marshalls/martial law play way back in 1999.

Posted by jim at 02:14 AM ||