Thanks for the motivation…

I found this advertisement at the subway station.

It reads:

“You have 42km to regret it, will you run anyways?

————

Marathon 42K.

Buenos Aires.

Everyone starts. Only a few reach the finish line”.

.

Excuse me?!?! Am I supposed to feel challenged? Am I supposed to be even more eager to run? Or are they trying to tell me to stay at home? I wonder what the purpose of this advert is, because it is not clear to me.

Now, call me crazy, but I believe that a company whose most recent slogan is “Impossible is nothing”, is giving the complete opposite message by putting its logo in this advert…

I mean, let’s put the slogans together, and let’s see how we can make them fit. I was never too good at logical thinking, but tell me what you think… is this a possible solution?:

“Impossible is nothing”+”only a few ones finish the race” = “it is not impossible that many of you will actually not make it to the finish line”.  Wow, now that’s a positive outlook, right?

What strikes me most is that this advert has the support of the city’s government. I look at it and keep thinking: was there such a need or, better said, was there no other way to be “creative”, that they had to resort to attacking the self-esteem of the very people who are supposed to give meaning to the marathon by running it?

What do you think? Can you think of a better way to promote a 42km marathon? I’d appreciate your comments and ideas.