Former landlord in Ithaca New York was one of the town undertakers (ran a funeral home). He ran for mayor during the 60s or 70s under the slogan “John F. Bangs–the last man to let you down!”
We also had a private carting company in the county, which had a sign on the trucks that said: Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Garbarge Back!!
Does Hal know he has an entire company moving in on his turf?
Not so much bad as … uninspired (and uninspiring).
The product was a rack you can attach to your truck or minibus to carry your bicycles in. It was called “Carry-Bike” and the catchy slogan was … “Carry your bike with Carry-Bike”. Well yes, I kinda assumed that’s what it was for …
It’s not even that. When the smog is bad, you can’t see LA.
Robin
Y’know, sometimes those slogans you think are just unintentionally bad work out. Fluke Transport have had the slogan, “If it’s on time, it’s a Fluke” for years and it seems to have worked pretty well for them. (I remember seeing it in one of NatLamp’s True Facts: Signs books) I guess appearing to unintentionally mock oneself helps get the word out.
CTV News used “If It Matters In Your World, It’s News To Us.”
It didn’t work out so well for them, because they didn’t appear to be making a joke – the slogan was used with compelling images of things that clearly did matter to many people. They quickly changed it to “If It Matters In Your World, It’s News For B.C.,” which is also stupid but doesn’t imply that their newsdesk is ignorant of the things that matter to their viewers, at least.
In a similar vein, there is (or was) Qwest’s “Spirit of Service in Action,” which I always heard as “Spirit of Service—Inaction.”
Some years back I drove past an office building under construction, and saw a sign on the chain-link fence which read “The Erection Company: We Get It UP.”
Sign outside a butcher shop in Detroit. “Youi cant beat our meat”
Next week “You can give us a ticket but you still cant beat our meat”
This slogan is also used by Hamburger Mary’s, a kick-ass burger & booze spot in the heart of Vancouver’s fabulous Davie Village. :mad:
;):p:eek:
My boyfriend has a tin of Altoids shaped like Goofy. The front of the tin proudly describes the taste as “spunky.” I suppose we are in the target demographic for that slogan, but I’m still somewhat disinclined to put one in my mouth.
http://www.troychemical.com/Troy_Logo_150dpi.gif
For non-link-clickers:
“Troy chemical industries, inc.
Where Excellence Is Not An Option”
I think this one is brilliant.
A towing company in the Twin Cities has this slogan on the side of their tow trucks:
“If you think a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur!”
I think it would work better if they weren’t named *Budget *Towing.
At the risk of explaining the joke…If they’re Budget, they’re cheaper… and therefore amateurs.
That one’s kinda funny actually – but I can see how it wouldn’t work out quite as well since news isn’t really supposed to be irreverant or self deprecating. (Unless your name is John Stewart)
I remember when I was younger and on vacation with my family we passed a bar that had a sign saying “Bad food. Warm beer.” I think this was somewhere in Colorado.
Bible truth. I worked for a graphic design company and we did a series of Johnsonville Brats billboards. The image was a hand holding a hotdog. The line,“Fills empty places better than caulk”.
…but “amateur” doesn’t mean anything of the sort. An amateur does something for the love of it, rather than remuneration.
Strangely enough, I actually knew an amateur tower. He bought an ancient, disreputable-looking rust-bucket of a tow-truck because he thought tow-trucks were cool, and was forever looking for things to tow. “Oh, you don’t need temporary insurance to move your second car to your new place! I’ll tow it for you!” People quickly learned that it was expensive to let him anywhere near your vehicle. The two incidents I recall most clearly are completely messed-up paint from heavy (and corroded) magnetic brake/signal lights affixed to the top of the towed car, and a crumpled front end from an improper hitch. Expensive, indeed.
Mmmm. Bratwurst.
I recall once seeing a poster that proclaimed, “It takes everyone to make a Democracy!”
Well…yes but…
a) That is part of the definition of the word Democracy so, this isn’t real non-obvious.
b) We do not happen to live in a Democracy. You know, representative government and all that… Thus, it doesn’t take everyone.
Delta Airlines:
“We get you there.”
On a related topic, I once saw a sign on a garbage truck ‘Free Snow Removal.’ It was in Tampa, Florida.
For a while Kansas had Kansas – Land of Ahhs. I couldn’t help but think that Kansas was the place that Dorothy originally wanted to get away from. It’s only after her adventures that she wanted to come home. But I guess “Kansas – No Flying Monkeys” was too long to fit on the license plate.
A place I used to pass on my way to work extended this into the Most Tasteless Slogan I’ve Ever Seen –
“You can’t beat our meat.
If your wife complains about the price, bring her in. we’ll dicker.”
…
