Reading the Tabloids
November 14th, 2005 by Bob Bly
Several direct marketing gurus have said: “If you want to understand what your market is thinking, read the supermarket tabloids.”
But I’m not sure that’s true any more, after reading some tabloids and finding the headlines below.
By the way, 4 of these headlines are real, and one I made up. Can you spot the fake?
1. Man Poses as CPR Dummy to Meet Women.
2. New James Bond Actor is a CIA Spy in Real Life.
3. Man is So Cruel He Has Ice Water In His Veins.
4. Possessed Pepper Shaker Terrorizes Family.
5. Aliens Settle in San Francisco; Refugees Call Their New Home “Little Mercury.”
This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 7:45 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 14th, 2005 at 8:12 am
I pick #2.
November 15th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
I’ll take number 4 for a hundred, Bob.
November 15th, 2005 at 2:55 pm
The only one that is even remotely close to being believable is #2: “New James Bond actor…” So I’m going to say that one is made up. It’s not over-the-top enough to make it into a tabloid paper!
November 15th, 2005 at 8:37 pm
I pick #2. Wal-Mart shoppers and tabloid headlines… hmmm. I see a pattern here….
November 16th, 2005 at 10:39 am
I’ll vote for number 3. The others make specific claims that are typical of the tabloids. Using metaphors in headlines is not a tabloid staple. However to get back tot he original point of the post, while articles like these are typical of the tabs, esp. the Weekly World News, many of them feature articles on celebrities and lifestyles, topics that are of great interest and reflective of the interest of most of the people in the US.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
large black butt
Pros and cons of large black butt.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Nice resource, very interesting reading. retirements gifts