Ad Strategies: Yo mamma's so fat she X

Yo know the type of joke? It goes, "Yo mamma is so fat she X"? Here's a few:

Yo momma's so fat, at a restaurant when they give her the menu she replies " yes Please"

Yo momma's so fat, when she went to the beach Greenpeace tried to drag her back in the water.

Yo momma's so fat, she makes Big Bird look like a rubber duck.

We'll my dear readers, ad land has it's very own version: this product is so X it Y. (Also labelled more simply, by Peter Barry, as the 'exaggeration' strategy).

Here's a few classic examples with the literal (as opposed to lateral) translation underneath:

This knife is so sharp, it cuts through the chopping board too!

This cement dries so quick, you don't even have time to write your name in it!

This marker pen is so permanent, an autograph will stay with you till your old!

Now, as you can no doubt tell, verbalizing the idea behind the visual takes away the magic... if they'd been posters with the same idea in words, they'd have been burnt instantly.

The wit of these ads seems manifest in the 'play' between the product logo and the image itself.

I imagine the writer going on a little journey... coming up with an incredibly short story to dramatize the benefit... eventually arriving at the idea after a long period of time and a lot of lateral scribblings...

The viewer then takes that same journey, but a hell of a lot faster...

Maybe that's what makes you laugh... the G-force in your tummy?!

The result? 'A smile in the mind' as the old book title has it!