"Women of American..."

February Fake Ad outed

by Jay Forstner

posted 3/1/2010

We received 173 entries to our little contest last month, of which 169 correctly identified the Fake Ad for International Introductions on p. 30 of the February issue.

Most Fake Adders thought the ad, which offered to match "Women of American United States" with experienced gentlemen from overseas--a twist on the ubiquitous ads offering to match foreign young women with American men--was clever. "Cute," wrote David Cooke. "I guess turnabout is fair play!"

And Susan Boyes wrote: "I love this ad. It must have been so much fun to write!"

But not everyone was a fan. "I'm extremely disappointed in your choice for a fake ad this month," wrote Diane Averill. "It is sick. It is not even funny."

We'll leave the last word to Eric Sobocinski, who wrote, "This is one of my favorite fake ads. The biting parody is right on. Not funny to me, just painfully insightful."

Anita Yu was chosen as our winner. She's taking her gift certificate to Zingerman's.

To enter this month's contest, find the phony ad somewhere in the March Observer and follow the instructions on the "Back Page." The Fake Ad always includes the word "arborweb"--in February, it bridged the street and web addresses. The winner of our drawing earns a $25 gift certificate to any advertiser in the issue.   

[Originally published in March, 2010.]