Mastercard Moments - I was in the supermarket today and I overheard two women talking about t heir children. One woman's son (middle-school age, I gathered) is going to be in a sporting event that will take place in a nearby professional sports arena. They were saying that this was great, and she must be happy, etc. Apparently her daughter was also going to be cheerleading the event.

Then the mother said, "This is something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. It will be a real Mastercard moment."

Maybe I'm overly something-or-other, but that bummed me out. The important moments in your child's life are compared to an advertising campaign...? She tossed it off as a normal part of the conversation.

I suppose all I was seeing was two people simply talking in pop culture shorthand. This would be an indication of the effectiveness of Mastercard's campaign, that it has memed its way into our thoughts and language. On the other hand, the woman didn't stop to think that her son't life experiences are something real, wheras an ad campaign is manufactured emotional manipulation, and that the comparison brought her son down, rather than lifting him up.

It's the natural evolution of the language. But I wish something more valuable than ad campaigns were providing the linguistic fodder.