What cool times we live in. :D (RL)

[thistlechaser]

I was listening to the radio while driving home for lunch. Typical wedding ring/jewelry store commercial came on.

Man speaking: It was a bit of a stretch, but I knew she was going to wear that diamond ring forever...

At that point I semi-tuned the radio out, wondering if any couples really, really, really believe their relationships will last "forever". Listening with half an ear, next line I heard was:

Woman speaking: When Julie and I tied the knot, I knew the ring would have to be something special...

Buh? Wait, what'd I just hear? 'Julie'? When a woman was speaking? I listened closer to the last of the ad:

Man speaking: I wanted to get something special to place on Rick's finger, something that would really match his style...

I nearly fell out of my chair! :D

I've never ever written to a company about a commercial before (I've really wanted to do it for some negative ones, but it seemed like too much work). But for this one? I hunted down the company's website and sent them off a nice email thanking them for being brave enough to run something like that. :D

Comments

[barahir-ffxi.livejournal.com]

At that point I semi-tuned the radio out, wondering if any couples really, really, really believe their relationships will last "forever".

Why would you go into a relationship thinking otherwise? That's kinda sad...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Because it's realistic? More than 50% of marriages end in divorce, so the chances are that a new marriage is going to fail. If a person thinks otherwise, they're just fooling themselves.

Sad? Maybe, but I personally am a big fan of reality.

[barahir-ffxi.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a self fulfilling prophesy to me... you go into a relationship expecting it to fail and you have the excuse you need to not work on it when times get tough. People hit a little bump or, heaven forbid, a real challenge in life and they take the easy road out and get divorced or break up. Sadly, society accepts THAT as reality and so the cycle continues.

Perhaps if everyone went into a relationship believeing it was forever, the reationship would receive the care it needs and deserves to succeed. This growing trend in society to be so accepting of people bailing on their significant other as the first sign of trouble is very very disturbing. (to me anyway...)

[onionkiri.livejournal.com]

I do think those statistics are important to keep in mind, but that's an unnecessarily negative viewpoint.

1) You could also say that almost half of marriages last all of people's lives, which aren't bad odds. (Granted, many of them may not be happy - but nevertheless.)

2) This point may only make sense to me because I got four hours of sleep, but I kind of feel that applying this argument is like saying that if the pregnancy rate of 15-18 girls is 50%, and I'm a 16 year old girl, I have a 50% chance to get pregnant. Which obviously if you take the necessary precautions, you won't. It's completely within your control. It's just a statistic -- it's about your choices and actions and effort, not about how many other people do the same thing in a similar situation.

3) Obviously relationships in general have a high fail rate (there's the marriage statistic, not to mention most people have several relationships before getting married). But you can't go into a relationship with the mindset that it's highly likely it'll fail in the end -- even if it's true -- because then it'll never have a chance to succeed in the first place. If you don't believe that maybe this time might be different, and don't make the effort, then it won't be.