If you live in Utah, you have undoubtedly experienced a Les Olsen Company advertisement. LOC provides copiers and other such office equipment to the area, and their ads are ubiquitous and boring. They rely on their staff to read lifeless scripts and they play their jingle until your ears bleed.

I recently heard a radio ad where LOC confirmed the lack of thought behind their advertisements. They pitched an offer to the whole Beehive State that you can visit one of their stores and get a free calculator!

What!? Who in the world wants a free calculator? Did someone accidentally order 10,000 calculators and now you have to get rid of them? Of all the tchotchkes you could think of, you went with the most uninspiring and undesirable one on the planet. "Here, customers, do your math homework!" I just don't get it.

I'm inclined to believe that people would be far more interested in something like an ice cream cone (assuming your advertising budget is tight (which is a pretty safe assumption)).

Come on, Les, hire a real advertising firm since you own so much airtime so that we can at least be entertained a little.