Some ideas are so bad that they immediately go from obscurity to a place of honor beside ‘We’ll invade Russia in late summer; and be home in time for Christmas’, or maybe this technique for getting rid of a beached whale (from a few years back here on the Oregon coast):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFwxH3PPWiU
Unocal 76 has the distinction of coming up with the newest of these flashes of brilliance. Maybe you’ve seen the ads.
They call it ‘The Pinky’. The idea is to show your appreciation for a random act of kindness on the highway by raising your little finger in the general direction of the perpetrator of said kindness - much like 'flipping the bird', but with the little finger; the pinky - get it?
This makes the extremely short list of non-verbal gestures subject to dangerous misinterpretation. A finger would be seen – which finger would require a second look, while driving in traffic. Even after correctly identifying the little finger, most drivers would have no idea what this means, and how they should respond. At best, it’s a lame idea; at worst, it could get people killed.
The commercial promoting ‘The Pinky’ features a number of vignettes, each of which went well. All smiles; no punches were thrown – basically because everybody involved was an actor, and were following the script. Only a fool would try this out in real life.
The only positive aspect to this is that these geniuses have trademarked this gesture – which may limit its adoption, and hopefully save some lives.
In the meantime, we have a perfectly good way of indicating approval … all five fingers, and a smile.
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