?? Dirt?

[serenissima]

Covered bus stops in my neighborhood now have ads advertising dirt.
This URL is on the ad: http://www.americaneedsdirt.com/
There's no obvious company name on the website. Bonsai kittens are one thing, but a spoof that includes real paper advertisements? I am mystified. Could this be a public health initiative to get people to exercise?

Comments

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

It looks like a public initiative to get people to spend more time outdoors, spending time with their kids, if they have any. There's an article on the site that says something like "A stain-free lifestyle is half-lived." I can get behind the idea.

[403.livejournal.com]

"A stain-free lifestyle is half-lived."

Well yes, but I prefer my stains to come from paint.

[daisho.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to know whether the campaign is real or not. On the one hand, that picture of Cal Ripken holding a jar of dirt looks like the latter has been superimposed (though it's too small to see for sure). OTOH, there's this apparently genuine article. Even so, it's one of only two Google matches for Cal Ripken and America Needs Dirt -- and the other is a blog, commenting on the advertisements.

It's certainly a widely-held belief that keeping kids too clean isn't good for their immune systems. But I've seen a number of celebrities tricked into backing bogus campaigns for the amusement of the 'organisers'. Time will tell, I suppose...