Get Incensed

Man, I had a dreadful flight ….

I love monkeys.

I don’t mean in the same way people down South love their pigs, I just mean you could have a monkey show up at my best friend’s funeral and I’d start laughing.

How funny are monkeys? If you invited a monkey over to your house, you could watch Terms of Endearment, Beaches and Resident Evil back-to-back and not use a single Kleenex.

When Bette Midler starts singing Wind Beneath My Wings and the monkey starts running around with his arms out imitating an airplane, I guarantee you’ll forget all about Barbara Hershey and her terminal disease.

And speaking of terminal diseases (brought to you by Seques R Us), the folks at Kansas City International Airport have put together a snappy little commercial to persuade you to use their facility.

This is a brilliant commercial on so many levels.

First off, it has monkeys. That alone should win it a Clio which is the advertising equivalent of a gold medal at the Special Olympics.

Another great feature of this ad is that it is directed at a niche audience of Kansans who are maybe a bit slower than the rest of the population. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions here, but how stupid do you have to be to need a commercial to tell you the airport is one of your travel options?

Right now this conversation is taking place in hundreds of Jayhawk households:

Ma: Gee, Paw, I reckon I’d like to go to Florida on vacation.

Paw: Come on, Ma. You know I only get two weeks vacation from the manure factory and if we take the tractor it’ll take us 10 days just to drive down there.

Announcer dude: KCI makes flying easy …

Paw: Grab your calico panties, Ma! We’re a-goin’ to Disney World!

I hope you’ll allow me a wry inner smile when I imagine somewhere a Kansas Board of Education member is thinking to himself, “Damn! If a monkey can navigate this airport, it must be easy.”

And if the sight of a monkey breezing through remote parking and airport security gets a couple of Board members to re-think their opposition to teaching evolution … I’d say we’re all winners.