Did You Know They Took "Gullible" Out of the Dictionary?

Yesterday was a day of crushed dreams and humiliation. It all started when I saw a link to this picture on the FB newsfeed:

A miniature lap giraffe!

The little girl in me who wanted her own pony, or better yet, a unicorn, came out full steam. I couldn't believe my eyes and I was immediately picturing myself with a little pet giraffe roaming freely in our home and back yard. (Mind you, I hadn't seen the Direct TV ads with the mini-giraffes in them, yet, so this discovery was like pure gold to me.)

So anyway, I then started to browse a web site that claimed to breed and sell these creatures, even boasting a live action giraffe cam. Man, I was totally sucked in at that point. It dominated my thoughts all day, to the point I was obsessing over it at work, drawing my co-workers into the frenzy as well. It wasn't unitl late last night that I realized I might have been had. (ya think?)

screen cap of mini-giraffe breeders web site

Notice in the upper right hand corner, there is a blue triangle that says this: "As seen on American Commercial. Be Clicking to View." (The "breeders" are Russian and the web site is full of endearingly bad English) Nice touch.

So then, in an epiphany moment about 8 hours too late my brain finally

"Be Clicking to Get A Clue."

The "breeders" website was all genius marketing done by Direct TV. All part of getting you to view their ads. I hate you Direct TV for breaking my heart.

But seriously. I come away from this with a few thoughts.

#1 I am SOOO gullible. It is super weird, because I am pretty level headed and rational most of the time. I am even quite often the voice of reason. Which leads me to think that maybe there is part in all of us, or at least in me, who wants to throw caution to the wind and cling to little girl dreams and magical ideas.

#2 Someone at Direct TV is uber-creative and smart and diabolical. I always love to imagine the brainstorming pow wows that were the genesis of ad campaigns

-and-

#3 Even if mini-lap giraffes aren't real, I still want one. She can come live with my other pet...