Personal ads of bookish Brits
The London Review of Books boasts some of the most hilariously bizarre personal ads. David Rose, advertising director at the twice-monthly literary journal, has compiled “some of his favourite ads” in They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books. As the New York Times reports, the following ad made the cut:
“Bald, short, fat and ugly male, 53, seeks short-sighted woman with tremendous sexual appetite. Box no. 9612.”
While the ads are “weird in the extreme,” the Times suggests “they are also peculiarly English.” Kate Fox, a cultural anthropologist who wrote Watching the English, spoke to that: “‘An advertising campaign focusing exclusively on the disgust people feel for your product strikes a lot of people as perverse,’ Ms. Fox said in an interview. But when Britons exaggerate their faults, she said, they are really telegraphing their attributes.”
Related links:
Read the Times story here
Click here to explore the London Review of Books personals
