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From: dileo@brl.mil
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Advertisement is Stupid
Message-ID: <2823@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 11 Jan 90 21:29:33 GMT
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Reply-To: dileo@brl.mil (John J. Dileo (CSD) <dileo>)
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 24, message 7 of 12

In article <2737@accuvax.nwu.edu> Joel B Levin <levin@bbn.com> writes:

>Of course that's the point of the ad; what we complain about is the
>ludicrous strawman they set up, that someone might confuse calling
>Fiji with calling Phoenix.  And of course the alternate implications,
>that the ordinary user is stupid enough to make that mistake, or that
>the alternate long distance carrier would make that mistake.  This is
>only one of a number of moderately sleasy long distance ads, most of
>which are perpetrated by AT&T.

   If I am thinking about the same commercial, it seemed that his call
was *MISROUTED* by the carrier, not misdialed by him.  In fact, he
dialed the number twice and received the same incorrect number both
times.  What AT&T was really doing was playing on two at once: that no
other phone company is competent to handle long-distance service, and
that no other company is as competent at handling complaints, billing,
etc.

   I admit that the ad in question was quite melodramatic, but I don't
think it was as stupid as previous posters have suggested.

 --John DiLeo
   dileo@brl.mil