I’m at the counter of a Denver bakery next to a bikram yoga studio waiting on a blueberry scone and leafing idly through a stack of promotional cards advertising the services of a psychic who’s running a special: a one hour reading for $55. Next to me, the glass bakery case reads “Please don’t scare the cupcakes! (no hanging or touching of the glass!). The Psychic claims that she’ll read my aura, my chakras, and my past lives because “everything is energy and holds a vibration.” I misread this as “everything is energy and holds a vibrator” which causes me to snort in laughter and draws looks of calumny from the lycra-clad yogis around me. I slip one of the cards into my pocket and slink off to a corner table.
I love advertisements because they express what remains unwritten in our official culture. They speak to desire, and no doubt Freud would have a grand old time with my gaffe.
But this one ad card is different, or rather no different but in a different way. Read More…
