A phone call to Bangkok is cheaper than to Bangka?

3 (Three), a cellular telecommunication provider in Indonesia, had recently run catchy advertisements across the Indonesian mass media spectrum, either thru the newspapers, magazines, or billboards on street intersections.

The ads puts a slogan that goes on like this:

Kini, nelpon Los Angeles lebih murah daripada ke Lenteng Agung

(Now, a phone call to Los Angeles is cheaper than to Lenteng Agung)

Kini, nelpon Melbourne lebih murah daripada ke Menteng

(Now, a phone call to Melbourne is cheaper than to Menteng)

Kini, nelpon Singapura lebih murah daripada ke Singaparna

(Now, a phone call to Singapore is cheaper than to Singaparna)

The advertisers had made it a point to put at least the two first letters of a foreign location and compare it to a local place which also had the very same first two letters.

Put into simpler words, it is a play on phonetics.

Funny idea, methinks.

Despite the ongoing criticism by brand marketers and truth-openers in an e-mail mailing list which is widely circulating among Indonesian netizens now, I find it unique to create my own catchy slogans like follows:

Kini, nelpon Nagasaki lebih murah daripada ke Nagrek

Kini, nelpon Puerto Rico lebih murah daripada ke Purwokerto

Kini, nelpon Amsterdam lebih murah daripada ke Ambon

Kini, nelpon Monako lebih murah daripada ke Mojokerto

Kini, nelpon Paris lebih murah daripada ke Pasar Minggu

Kini, nelpon Boston lebih murah daripada ke Bogor

Kini, nelpon Sydney lebih murah daripada ke Sidoarjo

Kini, nelpon Kazakhstan lebih murah daripada ke Kampung Utan

Kini, nelpon Den Haag lebih murah daripada nelpon Denpasar

Kini, nelpon Madrid lebih murah daripada ke Magelang

Kini, nelpon Bahamas lebih murah daripada ke Bandung

Kini, nelpon Jamaika lebih murah daripada ke Jambi

Kini, nelpon Polandia lebih murah daripada ke Pondok Labu

Kini, nelpon Kuwait lebih murah daripada ke Kuningan

Kini, nelpon Meksiko lebih murah daripada ke Medan

Kini, nelpon Chili lebih murah daripada ke Ciamis