Tell me where it hurts

Not that anybody notices these things or that anyone even reads these entries, but last week there was a running theme here on R17. Each post last week was based on something unusual I has seen and saved for perpetuity with my iPhone camera.

I wasn't planning another one of these type of posts anytime soon, but that was before I spotted this guy at the corner of Jefferson and Sawtelle. I argued with myself for a moment but knew in a nanosecond that if I didn't get a picture I'd regret it.

So I pulled into the parking lot at the Toys R Us across the street, grabbed my iPhone and bolted for the corner before this guy was replaced with an arrow-spinning condo salesman.

When I asked this guy if I could take his picture he balked at first.

"Come on man, you gonna be making fun of me?"

I must have had my irony-laced, sophomoric-blogger face on because this guy pegged me right away. So in service to this blog I lied.

"Why would I make fun of you? I'm a college professor doing a report on modern day dental practices."

He bought it. And for good measure, smiled and did a 3/4 over-the-top, double fakie, swivel turn, one of the more difficult moves amongst the giant arrow spinning crowd.

So now let's get to the meat caught between the molars of the matter. There's something very wrong with this picture. Can you spot it? No? Well, here it is: Why is there a phone number on the board?
It's not necessary. It is counter-intuitive to the whole impulse dental surgery purchase.

Think about it.

You're driving home from work. The nagging pain in your lower incisor refuses to go away and you refuse to spend more than $800 to attend to the matter. Well Mr. I'll-Point-You-In-The-Right-Direction is Johnny On The Spot. He's literally pointing you towards the marginally board-certified dental clinic. If you have to write down the phone number, there's a chance you'll go home, do some research and put it off for another day.

Or worse, drive by another corner where an arrow is announcing dental implants for $699.

I've said it once, I'll say it again, this generation of marketing whiz kids may be up on all that digital crap but they have all given up on the craft of advertising.