Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sham Wow? Sham Yes!

That title may be a little misleading. A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for the next great miracle product: the Sham Wow. As I did with a certain iPod commercial, I quickly wrote to Sham Wow when I saw that they had created a word. Unlike "everyday" which is sometimes one word, "everytime" is never a word. I shared this tidbit with the company and received a very rude brush-off. In other words, par for the course in my crusade for proper grammar. At least this company wrote me back.

Then, while shopping at Costco last weekend, I saw this display:

Every time! Two words! I got so excited that poor, embarrassed Matt quickly darted into the electronics section. I took a picture with my awful camera phone while repeating "It's two words! It's two words!" like a crazy person. This picture is a little fuzzy because I could not stop my hand from shaking with excitement.

At school today, I shared this wonderful grammar triumph with my students. I told them that one of three things happened: 1. My message got through to someone. 2. They received the same message from a bunch of people. 3. Someone in their marketing department realized the error. I told them that, whatever the reason, there was a ray of hope. Indeed, I'm still glowing from it.

Unfortunately, Sham Wow's website hasn't caught up to their packaging. Their site, which is so much easier to fix than their packaging, still says "everytime." Won't you please join my crusade for "every time"? Send an email to ronny@squareoneent.com and urge the company to bring its website up to par with its packaging.

3 comments:

carolmom said...

DONE! Now we have to get every person who reads your blog to email Menards and tell them that their prices are low "every day" not "everyday." Is there hope?

Rebecca said...

This is great. I love this post. I think I love it because I believe that it was your email that triggered the change.

Anna said...

This is hilarious. I can totally see Matt darting away from you before your enthusiastic grammar triumph embarrassed him.