Last month’s Fake Ad, on page 71 of the February issue, invited readers disappointed with Michigan’s mild winter to visit Alaska to experience an old-school one. We received 166 entries correctly identifying the ad, including the winning one from Abby Fetter, who is taking her prize to Zingerman’s.
“Hey Ann Arbor Observer!” wrote Ellen Sauer. “I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when I came upon an advertisement … enticing snow-hungry Ann Arborites to visit chilly Alaska.” But Sauer “was appalled to find yet another use of ‘Ann Arbor we (insert any ‘b’ word)’ as a way to encode ‘arborweb.’ I’m sure you can do better than that!”
We shall try, Ellen. We shall try. Now, back to your ninth-grade studies.
Dan Jarrell got all poetic on us. “This truly reflects ‘the winter of our discontent,'” he wrote, “where sere grasses cover scabrous lawns that should be discreetly hidden under winter’s snowy bandages.” “I would be happy to go,” wrote Chelsea’s Gerald R. Smith, “if they could promise me that I would not have to hear the name S**** P**** ever again.”
We have no idea to whom Smith is referring, but perhaps Ypsilanti’s Nancie Loppnow does. “You betcha there would be a lot of snow there,” she wrote, “but who needs it?”
To enter this month’s contest, find the fake ad in the March issue and follow the instructions in the box at the bottom of the Back Page. Hint: the fake ad always includes the word “arborweb.”
