Derision is Everywhere

Play to Listen:

I usually attribute a lack of civility primarily to speech among individuals in American society — but derision is everywhere. Thanks to my sister for pointing out this one small but unusual example in the written description of a tech toy. The Fly Orbb is an interesting drone-like flying ball toy made in China. It appears to be sold under different names including JitterDrone and FlyNova but it’s nearly impossible to tell if these are really the same products from the same company. And that’s why I decided to write about this since as I tried to research the product manufacturer, I found that I couldn’t identify who that really is or where they are located. I was just interested in gaining some insight into who might have written the product description copy.

It’s a ball, it’s a drone, but what is it really?

Ok, I admit, I fell for a Facebook ad. It happens more often than I’m willing to admit. I see something cool, I click on it, it’s not that expensive, it’s something my daughter will enjoy, I purchase it. Yeah well, wait — it’s mostly for me though I hope my daughter will enjoy it. This particular toy caught my eye at a particularly vulnerable time — a month before Christmas when I realized I had done no shopping whatsoever and I desperately needed some stocking stuffers.

How could I resist? It’s a drone (kind of), it has bright flashing lights, you can do cool tricks (supposedly), there is a money-back guarantee (so they say), and it was on sale for under $25. Sure it was an impulse buy but the risk was minimal, right? I certainly didn’t stop to think about any societal comment I might be condoning with this purchase.

Anyway, I’ve digressed and nearly forgotten to tell you exactly what originally raised my curiosity about the company. On the side of the box is the following description of the product:

You don’t need a ton of space to unleash the fun of The Fly Orbb. It’s easy to control, so you can enjoy yourself worry-free anywhere from the living room to a public park. And the boomerang effect ensures The Fly Orbb only has one flight path after you launch it — right back into your hand.

And The Fly Orbb is great for the office, too. Use it to de-stress with your colleagues in the breakroom. Or for adding a little fun to your team-building sessions. It’s so easy, even your boss could learn. Seriously, though. Let her try.

In case you didn’t read this carefully enough or it didn’t resonate with you, here is the “offending” verbiage again:

It’s so easy, even your boss could learn. Seriously, though. Let HER try.

Now I can forgive them for picking on the intelligence of bosses in general — I think that’s funny, but to call out female bosses specifically steps over a line!

Am I Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill?

I’ll leave it to you to decide if I’m out of line here. The copywriter may have thought this was just funny and didn’t mean for it to be derisive, but why take that chance? Ironically, after having tried to use this toy on several occasions, it doesn’t perform as advertised. At best, it is kind of cool and shows potential to be cool but neither I nor my daughter could get it to do its tricks reliable. It reminds me of something I bought many years ago while living in a condo high-rise building with a terrace that was frequented by pigeons. To solve that problem, I bought an inflatable snake guaranteed to be “so lifelike that it can fool a zookeeper.” Now, either the copywriter didn’t hold zookeepers in high regard or zookeepers were very gullible as the snake didn’t scare one single bird. One pigeon apparently took great pleasure pooping on the snake’s head. <sigh>

When I started this blog I promised that it would be a blog about nothing, and this post affirms that objective. If I were to offer a moral to this story so that you don’t feel the past 3 minutes of your time were completely wasted, I would say that the line between playfully poking fun and saying something hurtful is thin, so think carefully about what you say or write. I’d love to hear your stories of intentional or unintentional slights so please leave a comment, and share this post with your friends if you dare.

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