Virgin Mobile to New Yorkers: You’re stupid, buy our plans!

Virgin Mobile recently launched a new “You Rule” campaign in New York City, targeting specific neighborhoods and their associated identities. But the ads aren’t coming off so much as praising as they are insulting. They’ve even accidentally put neighborhood-specific boards in the [wrong neighborhoods]. The Staten Island ads are particularly gruesome; here’s the text found all over the borough:   “Staten Island, you rule. The name says it all. You are truly an island, physically and mentally. Thank you for your front yards, detached garages and SUVs. Thank you for the ferry—the best cheap date ever. Thank you for being our down-to-earth, suburban, predominantly Italian-American cousins. To show our gratitude, we’ve got something for you. No, not baked ziti—cell phone plans without annual contracts, so you’re not locked in. And with no annual contract, you’re free to move between our other plans. Like you would on a bridge or ferry.”

Hold on a minute, buddy. Let’s count the oopsies in this ad: Staten Islanders are closed minded; they own the worst cars imaginable; they're not real New Yorkers, they’re only the cousins of New Yorkers; all they think about is baked ziti; and, perhaps the most heinous, they’re scared of commitment!

Some of the boards in other boroughs get just as nasty, [trash-talking downtowners] by calling them “scruffy,” portraying Upper Eastsiders as stuck up and overly concerned with manners, making snide comments and innuendos about the [gay scene in Chelsea](http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--virginmobileads0531may31,0,7888667.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork) and generally upholding various stereotypes in a particularly annoying fashion.  How about this: Virgin Mobile, you suck.

Photo courtesy of [x-eyedblonde on Flickr]