identity theft poster

Friday, January 16, 2009

The local post office has had this poster on display for years, and every time we visit, we notice it.

But we're still not sure what the message is.

We looked the image up online, and apparently it's to warn you--or at least make you aware--of identity theft.

Okay, the prominent "IDENTITY THEFT" in the condensed font does the job nicely enough, but what draws our attention is the sketchy, Vin-Diesel-looking guy glaring at us. Then we notice that he's pasting his image on top of a woman. We've never stolen anyone's identity, but if we were going to, we'd probably steal from someone, oh, of the same gender. (We also wouldn't choose the image that makes us look like the kind of dude who'd steal a woman's identity.)

A quick glance at our driver's license reveals that sex comes right after date of birth on the ID info, so it's not like that discrepancy is tough to spot. Women, in contrast to men, also tend to have womanly names, like Bertha or Deidre. Likewise, we don't imagine Vin Diesel's height and weight to be in any way similar to the woman's whose identity he's stealing--for the record, we're pretty sure it's Ricki Lake.

And finally, shouldn't Ricki Lake be stealing Vin Diesel's identity?