PRNDL

One would assume that there aren't too many people who model their behavior after the band members of AC/DC. OK. There are some. People who "party hard." People who like to wear hats indoors. People who don't mind showing off their knobby knees by endlessly wearing shorts. Rock hard. Party hearty.

But does anyone make any serious investment decisions based on the recommendations of AD/DC? While I wouldn't have thought so, apparently some fairly high-paid people think I'm wrong, people who work at an ad agency.

Of all of the things that people buy, a house is usually the most expensive. Next comes a vehicle. Unless you are buying used or something shipped from Seoul, the auto is going to put you in the realm of payment after payment. Consequently, one would think that there would have to be a pretty good reason before one selects, say, a brand-new Chevy Monte Carlo, which has a sticker price of on the order of $23,860 (assuming you opt for the SS version).

Of course, according to the aforementioned ad agency folks, the decision is rather straightforward for those pursuing the AC/DC lyrical lifestyle. In an ad that appears in the June 21 USA Today, on the page with the comprehensive weather information (and consequently a "premium position" in ad talk), there is an ad for a Monte Carlo. There is no headline. There are three art elements: (1) What appears to be a slip of paper onto which words seem to have been typed with a manual typewriter; (2) a photographic background showing the rear end of a Monte Carlo and an out-of-focus couple, she in a short black skirt and he in dark clothes; they seem to be in the entry way of a large hotel, possibly a Vegas casino, given the abundance of overhead lighting in the arrival area; (3) the Chevy logo and the words "We'll Be There." The text on the slip of paper is:

Party gonna happen at the union hall
Shakin' to the rhythm 'til everybody fall
Pickin' up my woman in my Chevrolet
Glory hallelujah gonna rock the night away
—AC/DC

The area referencing the Chevy line is highlighted in red.

So let see. . . .AC/DC fan reads USA Today, "The Nation's Newspaper." Is interested in checking the weather in a far-flung city (e.g., Las Vegas; the reader is in, oh, Trenton, Michigan). Spies the back of a car that reminds him of what Dale Earnhardt, Jr., drives. Hmm, he thinks. Checks out the little slip of paper. Oh, yeah! Burns rubber to his local Chevy dealer. But then wonders about where he's gonna get that woman to rock with. Damn. $23,860. And no particular place to go.