I came across an old gag cartoon of mine recently (above). Made me laugh. Then I asked myself: is there an idea for a humor post there?
At some point parents have to share shocking or unpleasant truths with their kids– what if non-human parents had to do the same?
What might a dog tell their son or daughter? Or a bug or a pumpkin or a parrot or a snowman or a rock or an ape?
So I slapped my forehead and got the wheels turning and started jotting down ideas.
As I worked, I found myself wondering why brands, particularly small businesses with limited budgets, don’t use this same approach to market themselves.
In other words: take a photo or some other image, and use it as a stepping off point to create a brand story.
A “true” story, but one where you add some humor and a little poetic license to get attention and create some buzz.
I think there’s a lot of potential there, and I’ll revisit the idea in a future post.
So where does the ruthless cutting come in?
Every creative knows they’re going to come up with a lot of bad and so-so ideas along with the good.
It’s not too hard to cut the lousy stuff, but then comes the tough part: cutting good stuff, maybe really good stuff, and retaining only the best material.
I came up with 43 “cold hard facts” gags, which was way too many for a reasonably short post. I cut 18 and kept 25.
I’m going to surprise you here and list the 18 gags that got cut. Some are definitely weak, some I hated to see go. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
I put the “best 25” in a Medium post which you can read here. (It’s a “friend link” that bypasses the Medium paywall.)
If you’re a brand or small business, give some thought to taking a photo you’ve got lying around, and using it for inspiration.
There’s a story in there somewhere. Probably several. Tease one out, or think about hiring me to help you.
OK, here’s what some non-human parents say when it’s time to tell their kids the cold, hard truth.
Bear: We smash beehives and bird feeders, then we sleep all winter. Vandalism tires you out.
Snake: We got scapegoated in the Bible, and we’ve been the bad guys ever since. Fangs a lot, Book of Genesis!!
Mouse: People use us for lab experiments. We don’t get to wear white gloves, either. Don’t believe everything you see in cartoons.
Cat: Remember Uncle Jack and the steamroller? We don’t really have nine lives.
Centipede: We’re not related to the Rockettes. It just looks that way when they do that kick routine.
Lion: We don’t lie down with lambs except on Christmas cards. It’d be like some hungry guy lying down with a hamburger.
Rat: We get demonized a lot. Willard is a great movie, but there’s a lot of bigotry there, and it hurt our reputation.
Chicken: Colonel Sanders is a mass murderer. He puts our bodies in little buckets with cheery red stripes.
Toad: There’s no Toad Hall. We don’t get to ride around in motorcars and raise hell, either.
Mole: We’re legally blind. Uh, son, I’m over here.
Owl: We can only say the one word. We can’t ask What, When, Where, or Why, so we can’t be journalists or English teachers.
Troll: We live under bridges and make people pay to go across. Then we use our wifi connection to leave nasty comments on their posts.
Tooth: Kids put us under their pillows and parents sneak in at night and swap us out for money. It teaches kids to feel entitled.
Locust: We were one of the ten plagues of Egypt. Talk about bad press. People still look down on us.
