Cell phone users didn’t need Verizon to tell us that AT&T’s wireless service isn’t as good as Verizon’s. AT&T reinforced it themselves when all their ads boasted improved coverage after the merger with Cingular.
But seeing AT&T get all whiny about the Verizon “map” ads that overemphasize the disparity in 3G coverage, I get pretty disgusted. Some people are allowed to complain and some people aren’t. Remember when white guys started kvetching (we probably didn’t call it that) about getting squoze out because of “multi-culturalism?” Or when corporations started taking more and more advantage of their funny, useful, legal status as quasi-citizens? That just shouldn’t be allowed.
Fine, I know that legally some of it has to be allowed. But does anyone really want to hear AT&T whine about how Verizon isn’t playing fair? Everyone should have thought of that before the FTC changed the rules about comparative advertising in the early 70s.
I’m not normally one of those Teddy Roosevelt, grandpa-threw-me-in-the-lake types, but quit your damn whining. Fight back, take the high road, or shut up.
No, white guy, you don’t have free reign to complain about affirmative action. No, dirty campaigner, you don’t have any room to complain about being attacked for dirty campaigning. AT&T, do you really want to open the Pandora’s box of lawsuits over comparative advertising? That’d be like, needing the U.S. Supreme Court to decide an election.
In an article about the dangers of the Bush v. Gore decision, Jeff Rosen talked about “the corrosive ways that legalisms infect the most informal interactions.” (Ironic, given that he more recently got slammed for reporting that was a little too informal during Sotomayor.)
The law is supposed to focus on protection, not proscription. If the economy fails or the health care system bankrupts a quarter million people, yeah, some proscription is probably called for. But you don’t want to live in a world where cars won’t go if your seatbelt’s off, and keg parties have consent forms at every exit, and ALL commercials are like Cialis commercials.
It’d be like adding David Hyde Pierce to all the Mac/PC ads, playing “The FTC.” No one goes to a game to watch the umpires. Let them play. Let them play.

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