Best Buy blind commercial addendum…

Ok, so apparently I should explain this one a little more. I don’t want to be out offending anyone or having my point missed. What was a short small post that I didn’t expect to get many views has sort of skyrocketed. 

The other post which can be found, here, has the word-for-word recap of what the actor portraying the geek squad guy said in the commercial. 

After that I dispensed with a few of the simple thoughts that would come from telling someone you installed a TV for a blind person. They were admittedly rather generic and didn’t go beyond surface thoughts. 

I remember reading an ‘Encyclopedia Brown’ book when I was younger where he had to figure out who the stole something and he found that the thief was the ‘blind’ guy who wasn’t blind. Encyclopedia comes to that conclusion based on the fact that the light was on in his apartment and there was a newspaper next to the man’s chair. A child is supposed to learn about deductive reasoning and that blind people are unable to see. 

The reality of the situation is that many blind people “watch” television. Many have partial impairment which thanks to technology can be greatly improved upon. Even fully impaired people have more access to listening to play-by-play of professional sports, many music channels and you can even enjoy sitcoms and other shows. There are many really great things to do with the technology out there. 

Looking back almost three weeks on the quickly posted item from Dec 4th I wish I had directed the post more in the direction of the absurdity of Best Buy. Philanthropy is a good endeavor but telling other people about your generous actions is just gloating. It is an honorable thing to donate money to charity, but telling everyone that you did a charitable act makes it less honorable in my opinion.

Imagine for a second if someone comes up to you and says “I just gave five dollars to a homeless man” would that make you like them more? Would that make you more likely to do business with them? I find to be a bit shallow to boast and brag about your charitable deeds. Do it, take some personal satisfaction in it and move on. Proclaiming to everyone that you go out of your way to help people makes me think you did it for the wrong reasons. 

So, the thing to be taken from that commercial is not that they sold a TV to a blind man. I am sure that is something that has happened and will continue to happen all over this country. It is Best Buy’s exploitation of the installation as a feat of excellence. As if their extra time teaching the man to use his remotes makes them the better choice for you when you buy a TV. Sell your wares, make your profit, but don’t expect me to believe you when your commercials portray you as saints.