Don't talk during lunch

I buy my lunch at the coffeeshop or hawker centre every afternoon. You can see all kinds of people there. Office folks, labour folks, study folks... It's a global thing. We eat lunch in the middle of the day because we are hungry.

Everytime I'm in the queue, I think about them. What are they thinking right now? What are they chatting in-between mouthfuls of food? What occupies their minds after swallowing their coffee?

Maybe they are drooling over the new girl whose skirt fails to discipline her creamy legs.

Maybe they are cursing the CEO who stole from the donors, the kidney patients and the NKF staff outside of his bloody gang.

Maybe they are just choking over a stupid joke.

I don't know. But one thing I'm sure. They are not talking about ads.

Because the ads today talk about how the product is the grandest, the superest or the bestest.

Because the ads today talk about how smart the ads are, with concepts that need no words to explain themselves.

Because the ads today talk about how the cutting-edge techniques win the copywriters and art directors so many awards in the international scene.

And because the ads today talk so much, people no longer listen. After all, they are not in advertising. Why should they care?

When I go to a doctor, I don't want to know his college life, his X-ray machine, or his 54-year old nurse. What I'm more interested is the headache that threatens to split my skull and when I'm going to recover from it.

The cliche goes: What's in it for me?

The next time you are out for lunch, think. Is your ad talking to them? You can't persuade if they aren't listening.

A good ad stops the reader. A great ad feeds his mind, warms his heart and bursts out of his mouth during lunch.

So buy your food, sit down and stay quiet. Don't talk too much. Listen. Lunchtime is crunchtime.