The Jack Nicholson voice fairly drips with sarcasm: "Wanna spend a year at Stanford? Be prepared to hock the Mercedes." So begins an ad for the San Francisco Examiner that has aired on Bay Area radio stations for the past several months. The announcer goes on to extol the virtues of the afternoon newspaper, then concedes, "It's not exactly a Stanford education. But at least you won't have to listen to that annoying band."
The creator of the radio spot, advertising executive and Idaho State alum Mickey Lonchar, is unapologetic. "All's fair in love and advertising," he says. "And for those who didn't go to Stanford, it is an annoying band."
The ad is one in a series aimed at increasing newsstand sales of the ailing Examiner. "We wrote these spots to be a little bit smart-ass and left-of-center," Lonchar says. "We wanted to communicate that a 25-cent newspaper is an affordable way to learn things and juxtapose it with some things that are not so affordable." Then again, maybe you do get what you pay for.
