Things I Just Don't Get: Part Three

Each semester for the past year, I have been building on a mini-series of “Things I Just Don’t Get." These can range from not using turn signals to not replying to messages and the trend of “not being friends with your coworkers.”

To follow up, I am presenting part three of “Things I Just Don’t Get."

Celebrity Endorsements

I remember my sixth-grade social studies class going over all the different methods of advertising. Celebrity endorsements are one method on that list that, to this day, I still can't rationalize in my brain.

Sure, you see a famous person you like promoting a product and are drawn in. It really works, or else advertisers wouldn’t use it. However, running out to buy a product or use a certain resource merely because a singer or actor or whoever is in the commercial doesn’t make sense. They are being paid to tell you they like this product without legally being bound to actually use it. They might have never used the product, and you’ll never know. They are simply getting paid for being the spokesperson.

Some endorsements feel strange. Hailee Steinfeld at Ashley Furniture? Dua Lipa with Nespresso? Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union from 1990-1991, endorsing Pizza Hut in 1997? Just some wild, random ways for companies to try to draw people in. Again, they work, but I really don’t understand why common people are trusting the words of a multi-millionaire holding a piece of pizza they might never eat.

Same goes for celebrity political endorsements. For the most part, the rich and famous live in luxury with security details, private homes and little access to the general population. How do they know about what goes on in the real world with everyday people in this economy?

Good Books Made Into Bad Movies

Readers of all kinds know this pain. When your favorite book is made into a movie adaptation, the fear of the movie failing to be true to the book comes to light.

I don’t understand why directors cannot make a good movie out of a book. The script is practically all written for you! Sure, I understand wanting to take a creative spin and add your own flair to the story you are bringing to life, but readers come to see the book brought to life, not a movie with a vague representation of the piece of literature it's based on.

Internet Trolling

Others probably feel the same way. Doesn’t anyone have anything better to do than rant on Facebook or spam someone’s Instagram with negative comments? Sure, the Internet is a place to convey ideas and express emotion, but isn’t it OK to see something and move on? Does everything have to be commented on? Surely there are better things to do with one’s time than argue with strangers online.

And these, ladies and gentlemen, make up my updated list of things that I do not understand about the world around us. Maybe you agree with some, or maybe you don’t. Either way, be sure to tune in again next time for even more things that I just don’t get!