I rarely write about ad campaigns but this Obay marketing effort has me intrigued. Ads have popped up all over Toronto promoting an obviously fictional drug called Obay. They're everywhere and I have no idea what they're for.
One ad shows a father and son with the caption "My son had ideas of his own. Obay put a stop to that". Another reads "My son used to have his own hopes and aspirations. Now he has mine. Thanks, Obay!" A third features a mother and daughter and reads "When Amy started thinking for herself, we had to nip it in the bud with Obay".
Some suggest it might be a campaign for Ontario colleges. Others thought it might be for Scientology. I like the colleges angle, as it would be a great campaign for institutes of higher learning, but I also think it could be a psa reminding parents it's okay to encourage independent thought.
It's like the "Lisa the Vegetarian" episode of The Simpsons when Lisa objects to dissecting a frog and then asks Lunchlady Doris when she lost her passion.
Skinner: Oh oh. Two independent thought alarms in one day. The students are overstimulated. Willie! Remove all the coloured chalk from the classrooms.
Willie: I warned ya! Didn't I warn ya?! That coloured chalk was forged by Lucifer himself!
The first thing I thought when I saw the "OBAY" ad on the side of the Dundas streetcar was the Rowdy Roddy Piper film "They Live" where our future steroid familicide perpetrator reads secret messages through really cool sunglasses.
You're right, Mike. Probably a skillz college campaign. But world alien domination would be so much cooler!