"God only knows what I'd be without you..."

I've had this song in my head for most of the evening. It's a catchy little tune, and I rather like it, but it's been ruined for me. It's on a new commercial. A creepy commercial. The song is playing and when I'm doing something else while the TV's on and I'm not looking at it, I start humming along. It's when I watch it that I'm creeped out. There are several scenes with people just standing next to large things and smiling fixedly at the camera. It's creepy. It reminds me of the music video for the song "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden, which I also found creepy. (If you haven't seen the music video, imagine creepy people smiling fixedly staring at the camera while engaged in somewhat strange activities, then a black sun coming closer and closer to earth, while a psychedelic grunge song is playing....it's strange, and always kind of disturbed me.) This creepy commercial is for Sam's Club and MasterCard. I suppose the creepy smiling people are happy because they got their random large things from Sam's Club on their MasterCards, and they're thinking that God only knows what they'd be without both Sam's Club and MasterCard. Well, for one thing, they'd be a lot less creepy. God's not the only one who knows what I'd be without Sam's Club or MasterCard, as I've gone without the latter for my entire life, and I've only entered a Sam's Club twice, both times with other people who have cards. For those of you who don't know, Sam's Club is the Wal-Mart version of Costco. (If you don't know what Costco is, I can't really help you.) However, the only times I've been to Sam's Club was to purchase food for the receptions of recitals/concerts. Once was for the reception at the end of the Abilene Summer Music Festival, where I was a counselor, and the other time was for the reception of my junior recital. Aside from that (both visits were also at the suggestion of others) I have happily lived my life away from both advertised products. In fact, I don't even know where the nearest Sam's Club is. There are only two or three Wal-Marts in all of Massachusetts, so I'm not sure why we're getting commercials for Sam's Club. I guess because it's partnered with MasterCard, and they're everywhere. Anyway, I'm just curious about why marketing people think that creepy commercials are the way to go. Sure, it sticks in my mind, but it doesn't make me want to use whatever they're advertising. In this case, I'm glad I don't have either Sam's Club or MasterCard available to me, for fear it would turn me into a creepy smiling lunatic, fit only to appear on creepy commercials! Another example is the Starburst ad campaign of a few years ago, which featured a teenage boy showing a teenage girl a bust he had sculpted of her entirely out of Starbursts. He then proceeded to gnaw on the face of the Starburst bust. Can we say "wow, that's creepy"? I have not purchased Starburst ever since. Although, I haven't seen that commercial in quite a while, so maybe they realized that freaking people out wasn't the way to go. One can only hope. Anyway, I will finish my creepy commercial rant, and make my way to bed. My four day weekend has drawn to an end, and I must go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately, that means I won't see my husband until Thursday, because I'm working in the day and he's working from 3-11:30. I am in bed before he gets home. I will get to see him on Thursday and Friday because he has those days off. One happy side effect of his messed up schedule, however, is that we will get to spend time together on my birthday next Sunday, since he's working the overnight shift that day, and so doesn't have to be at work until 11:00pm. Only 19 more days until I leave!