There's a Duracell commercial airing about these days that further damns those that operate white vans. A mother is suddenly distressed when she loses sight of her child, Kevin, for a few seconds (another point to be made is that "Kevin" may also be the official name of a lost boy - see Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. There's a Home Alone 3 that needs to be fact-checked for the presence of a Kevin). She's clearly in a state of wtf but it isn't until she notices a white van pulling away that we see her panic stoked to towering levels.
Duracell is playing to society's fear of white vans. It reminds me of the hunt for the D.C. snipers a few years back. The public was told to be on the lookout for vehicles of the type. Check out the headline from this BBC story.
On urbandictionary.com, under the definition for "molester van", you'll see entry number two specifies the color of a molester van is white.
More links:
WPTV story featuring a victim speaking about an attempted kidnapping.
eNews Park Forest story about the arrests of those staging a kidnapping featuring, what else, a white van.
Duracell ad
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3 comments:
On a related note: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/kidnapped_boy_found_safe_imagines
hahahaha. Great post. I was just watching another Duracell battery spot this morning, similar premise but no Molester Van. Anyone else find it pathetic that Duracell has stooped to using fear-based advertizing to sell their product?
let's compile a list of commercials for non-security companies/non-industrials that use fear as a selling tool.
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