A Conversation Between Shirley & Lois

It's 4 o'clock in the morning and Lois is awoken by Shirley. No one in his/her right mind would want to be awoken at that time of night. The scene reminds me of the two main characters in "Thelma & Louise". (Thelma, played by Geena Davis, is Shirley and Louise, played by Susan Sarandon, is Lois.) The scene also reminds me of, the television sitcom, "The Golden Girls". (Shirley is definitely Blanche and Lois is definitely Dorothy.)

Lois doesn't comprehend why Shirley would be calling her, so very early in the morning, to discuss her wedding (Which Shirley Is Evidently Planning). Lois just doesn't appear to be interested since she just wants her beauty sleep. (Period.) Sleep to Lois is more important than talking to Shirley. I'm assuming that both ladies are friends.

Shirley, continuing nevertheless, states just how well she and her fiancé get along. This particular statement is an obvious comparison as to what will follow and how well certain foods at Dunkin Donuts really go together. Orange juice and/or coffee is definitely a great combination with either a donut or a muffin.

Elderly people or middle-age people may find this kind of conversation entertaining and kids would not be able to understand what is going on. Not every adult is going to find this conversation (an advertisement on the radio) funny. Many adults, after all, may wonder why one woman, calling another woman in the wee hours of the morning, tries to convince the latter to buy certain products chez Dunkin Donuts. A small percentage of adults, however, would find this particular ad just so "entertaining" that they will indeed go out, even at that hour, and make a purchase at this particular small restaurant. This would definitely mean plenty of business for any of these participating small restaurants in our country (The United States) (and, even, around the world) if more and more people felt this way. People who are driving en route to work or to the beach or to their homes or to an appointment, with this in mind, might actually stop at a Dunkin Donuts.

This commercial (A Conversation Between Lois & Shirley), as well as 6 or 5 other commercials, was taking up space on the radio between songs that were being played. Ads are spread across many areas and can reach an inordinate amount of people in such a short time frame.

We all realize that ads have to compete with other ads. We also realize that some ads gets mixed reviews while others get nixed. It really all depends on an individual person's preference.

There are people, like Shirley, who are just as happy at 4 o'clock in the morning as they are at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I think a majority of us are more like Lois, a person who just doesn't want to be bothered at 4 o'clock in the morning. Lois did not even take Shirley seriously. Both ladies did not even greet each other and both ladies did not even bid each other adieu. Shirley just wasn't paying any attention to Lois. Lois would say something, but Shirley would just continue to blabber on.

The manner in which Shirley speaks to Lois is really how a female teenager would speak to her friend. Any friend, furthermore, calling another friend at 4:00 A. M. and chatting about such a (truly) trivial subject would really put their friendship in jeopardy. The way Shirley is talking to Lois about a reception she is planning and the fact that she is going to have a Dunkin Donuts' coffee combo (world famous coffee, orange juice, and either a donut or muffin) there seems to be just plain annoying. Why does anyone need to know about this at that hour of the night? Lois is probably not going to speak to Shirley for a long time after this rather strange conversation. Shirley may or may not call Lois at 4 o'clock in the morning again.

It's hard for me to imagine a person staying up that late. I've stayed awake the whole night once (this was over ten years ago) and I just wasn't a happy camper the next day. I even stayed up until 3:00 o'clock in the morning once and the next day I just wasn't myself. I was unbearably dizzy and I just could not function during the day. It's really amazing that Shirley seems to have so much energy at that time of night. Let's face it. Shirley just didn't have a care in the world and she was certainly not thinking about Lois. Shirley could care less about Lois. She really only cared about her fiancée, her wedding, the wedding march which she will be hearing when she walks down the aisle with the groom, the reception, and the food that will be at the reception. A wedding is a very important time in a woman's life. Perhaps Shirley was so excited about her wedding that she couldn't sleep. Perhaps all the excitement about finally getting married to her fiancée just kept her wide awake.

What gets me is why Shirley would want to sacrifice a relationship with a female friend over a wedding. Does Shirley really care about how many friends she has? She apparently doesn't. She would definitely think twice, if she did, about calling Lois at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Fred the Baker, at the very end of this particular radio advertisement, emphasizes more clearly what Shirley has already said in her conversation with Lois. Would Lois want to attend Shirley's wedding? Probably not. Lois might not want to have anything to do with Shirley or her soon-to-be husband for a significant number of months. If Shirley does not repeat her phone call to Lois at 4 o'clock in the morning ever again, Lois may want to get back in touch with Shirley, but this wouldn't be the case until perhaps four or five months down the road. Lois may even want to get a restraining order on Shirley if she keeps calling at that hour of the night. This is what people do if they want someone totally out of their life. It seems that Lois was never meant to be disturbed. She never wants to be disturbed and she is just the kind of person that cannot stand to be disturbed (especially when she's sleeping). I don't want to ever be disturbed when I'm sleeping and neither does any other normal person ever want to be disturbed when they're sleeping. Every human being in this world needs sleep - some much more than others and some much less than others. There are those frequent few who can stay awake all night (without sleeping). Some students, who are taking 5 or 6 courses, stay awake all night studying (all-nighters). People in Manhattan, NY (the city that never sleeps) stay awake all throughout the wee hours of the night.

When Lois said, "Help!", Shirley just didn't ever dare to listen. It was like Lois was giving Shirley several fair warnings before she hung up. The first warning that Lois, groggily, gave (said) was, "Like 4:00 A. M. & Sleep?", the second warning that Lois, groggily, gave (said) was, "Shirley!", the third warning that Lois, groggily, gave (said) was, "Oh!", and the fourth/final warning that Lois, groggily, gave (said) was, "Help!". That was the last straw. Shirley heeded none of these warnings. She was paying attention to only what she was saying and none of the clear warning signs that Lois gave her.

Since Lois could not get through to Shirley with four clear warning signs, she ultimately just gave up and said, "First you'll be hearing a dial tone." (a dial tone then could be heard).

It was clear that Lois wanted to get back to sleep because understandably, at that time of night, sleep is more important than anyone. It was also certainly clear that Shirley did not have any life threatening emergency. There would then be a crucial need to call Lois if (& only if) Shirley had a life threatening emergency at that time of night. My previous neighbor across the hall from me told me (and was kind enough to tell me) that I should just simply knock on her door and wake her up if (& only if) I had a life threatening emergency in the middle of the night.

The happy character in this radio ad is Shirley. A regular or dark roast medium coffee, a small orange juice, and any doughnut or muffin for just a dollar ninety-nine, to Shirley, is just an amazing deal. I'm totally sure that other people who hear this ad on the radio will realize that a regular or dark roast medium coffee, a small orange juice, and any doughnut or muffin for just a dollar ninety-nine is an amazing deal as well. Dunkin Donuts will use any technique, whether a phone conversation like this one (a radio advertisement) or a man taking his coffee great lengths through many different places and, eventually, his car on the highway (a television advertisement), to lure prospective customers into their small little restaurant. Restaurants, like Dunkin Donuts, desperately want to attract customers with amazing deals/offers. The company will advertise any way that they can. It is the customers who must be the happy ones. Customers will keep coming back to purchase more products when they are definitely happy people. Keeping customers happy is what all restaurants try to enforce. People can definitely spread the good word about restaurants if these first initial customers have had good experiences at these particular establishments once before. The amazing deals at restaurants, like the amazing deal in this particular radio advertisement, are, alas, limited time offers. This means that people only have a limited time to savor these deals. Amazing deals (limited time offers) are the kind of tools that restaurants, like Dunkin Donuts, need to attract people. A funny conversation, spotlighting a woman like Shirley who is talking about an amazing deal (a limited time offer) at Dunkin Donuts, her reception, and her wedding, at 4 o'clock in the morning (an unthinkable time to be on the phone with another human being), to someone who isn't even interested, understandably, because of the time (a time when all people should rightfully be asleep), will really stop all of us in our tracks for a moment. We will all be thinking about what is being advertised and how it is being advertised. Getting people's attention, in this day and age, is one step in the right direction. People will definitely then be taking notice (and paying better attention) to what any restaurant is offering (amazing deals - limited time offers) either in a radio advertisement, in a television advertisement, or in a magazine advertisement.