Not a billboard exactly. An advertisement on a bus stop. Lemme describe it for you.
Across the top it said “The longest journey begins with one small step.” Directly underneath these words is a man near a newly planted American flag. Underneath the picture in bold red is the word **ACHEIVMENT ** and underneath the bolded red word it says in smaller italics Pass it on! and finally, underneath the italics in small print it says: Brought to you by The Foundation for Better Living. Yes “the” was underlined.
Can somebody help me here by doing one of the following:
Explain to me the meaning of this advertisement.
Tell me who and/or what is The Foundation for Better Living.
Third comedy option.
I’ll start it off by choosing 3. YOU can do anything you want just as long as you mix the correct metaphors-- even fake a moon landing! You can do it with chemicals!
I yahooed the group. Their own site is mostly stories of people helping people. There’s also mention of a ministerial scholarship fund. I suppose there are actual programs and goals, but I didn’t feel like delving deeper into a churchy site. At a Detroit church directory site, two churches are shown to be affiliated to TFBL.
We have those here in New York’s jealous step-city, too. They have various ones, like Michelle Kwan, or some dude who handed a homeless beggar his bone marrow or something. They celebrate Fortitude and Mightiness and Our Vital Fluids. They’re mostly easier to parse than the inscrutable one you came across at the bus stop, though. Like for instance with the bone marrow guy, it actually gives his name, and explains that he runs around handing out bone marrow.
You think the ACHIEVEMENT one is some sort of secret PNAC propaganda poster for the spreading of American Empire? It would make sense, what with the sorta business-casual self-help language, and the flag-planting. If that’s the case, where does Michelle Kwan fit into all this?
The man is in a space suit. He’s on the moon. He’s just done something great, as in, an achievement (they spell it correctly, btw).
It’s The Foundation for a Better Life, and “for” is underlined and superscripted.
See here, there’s a link to a slideshow of their inspirational posters at the bottom of the page. The “Achievement” one is, unfortunately, several minutes into the show.
I forgot to mention the space suit? How in the hell did I forget such a vital detail as that? Yes, the man is in a space suit planting an American flag-- in space!
So the message is we should pass on some correctly spelled achievement? If the poster is telling NYers to get a little more philanthropic it sure is being opaque about it.
Ah, but they do! That is exactly why it is fun to watch! And popular everywhere else in the world. If you’re talking about the junior leagues, then it’s not the kids you should watch, it’s the parents. They go craaaaaaaazy.