Saturday, February 04, 2006

Target bag

Lauren and I went to Target. We also went to Kohl's. We were in search of a coat for her, a jacket and gloves for me, a can of spray waterproofing stuff, and Simple Green cleaner. The Target in Turlock, nicknamed the Target of Death, has always been trying to undermine me. It worked, to an extent: we were absolutely thwarted in our attempt to locate either Simple Green or waterproofing stuff. We also couldn't find Lauren a coat, nor indeed any coat.

We left with a small bag of stuff, including two pairs of gloves for me (they were on clearance, and I routinely lose gloves, so buying two copies seemed prudent; we'll be in New York in a couple days, where it'll be in the 30s, and men wore gloves in the 30s. HA HA HA HA). Anyway, the bag contains the following notice:

10 WAYS TO REUSE YOUR TARGET BAG

1. Tiny Trashcan Liner
2. Doggy Duty
3. Water Balloon
4. Roadtrip Rubbish
5. Soggy Laundry
6. Ice Pack For Head Lump
7. Toiletry Tote
8. Kitty Litter Liner
9. Tomorrow's Lunchbag
10. Care Package Padding

I have such mixed emotions about this. On one hand, maybe it's good to remind Target shoppers that the plastic bag is redeemable in these various ways, and needn't be considered trash as soon as you remove your Odor Eaters and canned ravioli. And I wouldn't have thought of using a Target bag as a water balloon (although frankly I have my doubts as to its serviceability in that respect). But the cutesiness of it is over the top. Target is not in the business of being good to the environment. They sell cheap crapola. They don't have any motivation for anything they do but profit. So "Ice Pack Head Lump," cute as it is, is part of a marketing ploy. I'm meant to respond to it by going, "huh, kinda cute." And I almost did.

I like to use Target bags for emptying the cat box, because they tend not to tear.

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