Really? Fifty thousand of you thought Seva really served stewed rhubarb? Really?
We don’t know how else to explain that only seventy-eight cagey Fake Adders spotted the ad for the Eat. Write. restaurant review website on page 68 of the September Observer. Maybe the ad was just too well disguised. “I almost gave up this time,” wrote the Fake Ad Czar’s Moriarty himself, Dean McLaughlin, “but at the moment of laying the Observer aside my eye fell on the crucial bit of ad copy containing the vital Oarborweb’ giveaway. Until then, it had looked like just another blue sky Internet scheme that probably wouldn’t make anyone more than chump change.”
In fact, several entries commented on how hard the ad was to find, even more than commented that last month in this space we wrongly ascribed a song lyric to the Beach Boys when it was really by Jan and Dean.
There were a few positive comments, however. “This is your best (and hardest) one since I started looking for fake ads,” wrote Andy Yagle, “mainly because it is so believable.”
“It’s hilarious!” wrote Fiona Greenland (who is, surprisingly, part of Denmark). “I was totally taken in. I love Seva and was curious enough about the stewed rhubarb to look up their menu on the web when it hit me: ‘rhubarb or Weber’s.’ Nice. You guys are good at this stuff.”
Our winner was Cathy Chow. She’s taking her gift certificate to the Kiwanis Thrift Sale.
To enter this month’s contest, find the Fake Ad in the October Ann Arbor Observer. Deadline for entries is October 11.
.
