Brown Bag Catering

September's Fake Ad

by Jay Forstner

posted 10/3/2012

“You guys are getting trickier with hiding the names,” wrote Fake Adder Nathaniel Gittlen this month. “This month’s Fake Ad is the Brown Bag Catering ad on page 70. If the concept weren’t absurd, I never would have found it.”

Most entrants agreed that the ad was tricky, with August winner Marguerite Grabarek’s last name discreetly hidden in the copy, but not everyone agreed the school lunch catering idea was absurd. “I bet there are a few Ann Arbor parents who wish this business were legit,” wrote Ann Langendorfer.

“I was really sorry when I spotted Ms. Grabarek’s name in the headline and confirmed that Brown Bag Catering on page 70 was this month’s Fake Ad,” wrote Judy Steeh. “It’s such a great idea, it ought to be real! Honestly, I don’t know how you guys do it month after month.”

We received 114 entries correctly identifying September’s Fake Ad. Our winner was Ypsilanti’s Becky Sukach, who wrote, “I think it is a great idea and wish I had thought of it. My husband wants to know if pencils are included and are they nutritious?” Sukach is taking her gift certificate to Zingerman’s.

To enter this month’s contest, find the Fake Ad i the October issue and follow the instructions in the box at the bottom of the Back Page. The Fake Ad always contains the name of last month’s winner in some form.   

[Originally published in October, 2012.]