A mission - Walking distance in town

snubbleste · 13-02-2012 03:59PM #1

Fellow pedestrians, I beg your attention.

Upon chancing a prominent advertisement for the food emporium Supermacs displayed near the entrance to Lidl car park, I endeavoured to test its claim.
The missive states that there exists a two minute walk from that point to Supermacs Eyre Square. This implies that the distance is at best two minutes.
I set my stopwatch as I passed the sign and proceeded at a brisk pace unencumbered by baggage nor obstacles towards the doors of the destination. via Bóthar na mBan & Bóthar Irwin. It took 307 seconds, far far in excess of the advertised timeframe.

I wish you to engage in this mission and confirm my fears that this claim is indeed misleading.

scholar007 · 13-02-2012 04:01PM

snubbleste wrote: »

Fellow pedestrians, I beg your attention.

Upon chancing a prominent advertisement for the food emporium Supermacs displayed near the entrance to Lidl car park, I endeavoured to test its claim.
The missive states that there exists a two minute walk from that point to Supermacs Eyre Square. This implies that the distance is at best two minutes.
I set my stopwatch as I passed the sign and proceeded at a brisk pace unencumbered by baggage nor obstacles towards the doors of the destination. via Bóthar na mBan & Bóthar Irwin. It took 307 seconds, far far in excess of the advertised timeframe.

I wish you to engage in this mission and confirm my fears that this claim is indeed misleading.

You seem to have a bit of time on your hands.....;)

bonzodog2 · 13-02-2012 04:08PM

Quick! To the lawyers!

biko · 13-02-2012 04:12PM

No way that would take less than 10 mins walking normally, 2 mins maybe on a bike and no traffic.

Robbo · 13-02-2012 04:21PM

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Quick! To the lawyers!

According to many leading internet lawyers and Joe Duffy, false advertising is an actionable tort of great severity.

13-02-2012 04:22PM

Is that the sign by advance pitstop?

On the reverse there is an ad for Supermacs Headford road.

They are trying to get you coming or going.

Lapin · 13-02-2012 04:24PM

biko wrote: »

No way that would take less than 10 mins walking normally, 2 mins maybe on a bike and no traffic.

:eek:

Its never a 10 minute walk.

Lidl - The Square like?

empacher · 13-02-2012 04:29PM

What you need is a trundle wheel, measure the shortest distance in metres while following the pavement to supermacs. Divide that by 120 and you'll find out the exact speed you need to walk at to get there in two minutes.

dilallio · 13-02-2012 04:35PM

7 mins :-)

http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Headford+Rd&daddr=Eyre+Square&hl=en&ll=53.276903,-9.05002&spn=0.004221,0.011362&sll=53.274488,-9.050374&sspn=0.002111,0.005681&geocode=FWP4LAMdxOd1_w%3BFUToLAMd9eV1_w&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=17

galwaycyclist · 13-02-2012 04:36PM

Hmm but at Lidl you are only 2mins from the Headford Rd SC branch of Superior Macs? Maybe they got the two sides of the sign mixed up?

biko · 13-02-2012 05:45PM

Lapin wrote: »

:eek:

Its never a 10 minute walk.

Lidl - The Square like?

My bad, I was thinking Supermac's Headford Rd to Supermacs, the square.

Notch000 · 13-02-2012 07:23PM

Supermacs have been doing it for years. Its called advertising. They put up signs on the way into loads of town stating 'supermacs 2 mins' so you drive round looking for supermacs for 2 mins. Not finding it you then think, immm i'd love a cheeky cheese burger now, and then finally a couple of mins later again a juicy snack box shaped mirage appears on the horizon & your hooked

kinetic · 13-02-2012 07:29PM

I dunno whats worse, this actual thread or the fact that i read it!

Mrs OBumble · 14-02-2012 12:18AM

snubbleste wrote: »

Fellow pedestrians, I beg your attention.

Upon chancing a prominent advertisement for the food emporium Supermacs displayed near the entrance to Lidl car park ...

Was this sign, perchance, fitted into the side of a so-called "bin art" rubbish bin? Perhaps a council worker with a wagon decided to relocate the bin after the advertisement had been placed, a sort of bitter revenge for the transgressions of the bin owner?

FlashD · 14-02-2012 04:24AM

Nice bit of marketing by Supermacs there.

Y'all just 'been had' now

14-02-2012 10:30AM

The sign is a permanent one and it says two minutes on both sides.

I started counting out the seconds last night while I was walking that way but I was distracted by three young lads looking for directions to the cathedral.

On the way back I used my phone and clocked it at five minutes ten seconds.

snubbleste · 14-02-2012 10:49AM

Thaks pg633.

The offending sign and its inverse

pleasant Co. · 14-02-2012 11:28AM

quickly, get the Tipp-Ex!

Robbo · 14-02-2012 12:23PM

This is the most blatant case of false advertising since the film The Never Ending Story.

joeKel73 · 14-02-2012 01:13PM

Well 600m in 2mins would be 5 meters/second.

The fastest Guinness World Record for speed walking is held by Mikhail Shchennikov (Russia) who recorded a 5km walk in 18min 7.08 seconds, giving an average speed of 4.6 meters/second.

Although he might manage a bit faster over the shorter distance, I don't think he eats at Supermacs anyway.

I declare shenanigans.

KittyeeTrix · 14-02-2012 01:44PM

Deleted User wrote: »

I started counting out the seconds last night while I was walking that way but I was distracted by three young lads looking for directions to the cathedral.
.

My goodness, what's this City come to????:D

14-02-2012 01:49PM

KittyeeTrix wrote: »

My goodness, what's this City come to????:D

The novena brings out all types.

ash23 · 14-02-2012 02:10PM

2 minutes might be a optimistic but it wouldn't take 10. Swing a left after Argos (towards St. Brigids place), take the 1st right through the laneway (along the back of the car park), up through Debenhams and ta-daaah!

snubbleste · 15-02-2012 03:03PM

Passed by earlier and obseved that the 2 has changed to a 5. This happened at some point in the last day. I hold grave concerns that boards are popular with the entity concerned.
So now the sign has changed to 5 minutes walk.

kinetic · 15-02-2012 04:51PM

The irony here is that any fat fxxxer would walk to supermacs anyway

Pulsating Star · 15-02-2012 07:25PM

kinetic wrote: »

The irony here is that any fat fxxxer would walk to supermacs anyway

Genuine lol, thanks!

Mrs OBumble · 15-02-2012 08:44PM

snubbleste wrote: »

Thaks pg633.

The offending sign and its inverse
...

You do realise that a stupor Macs marketiing person probably got a bonus because of this thread? They couldn't buy publicity like this.

Diabhal Beag · 15-02-2012 09:02PM

"Stupor Macs" might be the worst thing I've read all day.

thesandeman · 16-02-2012 09:09AM

If Chip Inn have any cop-on they will put a sign beside it saying 'Chip Inn 20 seconds walk'.

Nok1a · 16-02-2012 10:25AM

JustMary wrote: »

You do realise that a stupor Macs marketiing person probably got a bonus because of this thread? They couldn't buy publicity like this.

let me see, this thread has over 1k views(maybe 200 unique viewers?). Id imagine an ad in a small village newletter would get more exposure

Mrs OBumble · 16-02-2012 12:48PM

Nok1a wrote: »

let me see, this thread has over 1k views(maybe 200 unique viewers?). Id imagine an ad in a small village newletter would get more exposure

Imagine again, this time factoring in how much Google likes Boards.ie threads.

confuseddotcom · 16-02-2012 06:32PM

This also begs the whole 9.99 question ........

Now on sale price / best offer yadda yadda yadda yours exclusively for the brilliant bargain sum of ONLY 9.99 .......

It's a fupping tenner !!!!!!

inisboffin · 16-02-2012 08:39PM

thesandeman wrote: »

If Chip Inn have any cop-on they will put a sign beside it saying 'Chip Inn 20 seconds walk'.

I'd even take it to.. "Chip Inn, sure aren't you practically atin' them already"

thesandeman · 16-02-2012 11:35PM

They could even have a lollipop lady (can we call them that anymore?)/sandwich board guy(just to even things up) to bring customers across the road.

swiftman · 17-09-2012 04:57PM

one of the best worse thread ive ever seen on boards. its a classic,
of i go now to supermacs, yum

joeKel73 · 17-09-2012 05:38PM

snubbleste wrote: »

Passed by earlier and obseved that the 2 has changed to a 5. This happened at some point in the last day. I hold grave concerns that boards are popular with the entity concerned.
So now the sign has changed to 5 minutes walk.

Haha

I forgot to get back to this thread. Just saw it bumped. I was bored in college at the time and emailed S'macs to see what they'd say...

Hi, I'm contacting you regarding your sign on The Headford Road in Galway. It states "Supermac's Eyre Equare, 2 Minutes Walk". Using Google Maps you can see the shortest walking route to Supermac's Eyre Square from the sign is 600 meters. That would mean you would need to walk at 5m/s to get there in 2mins. The current fastest Guinness World Record for speed walking is held by Mikhail Shchennikov (Russia) with a speed of 4.6 meters/second. If the world record speed walker can't make it in 2 mins, I don't think the average Galwegian has any hope. I look forward to your response. Regards

to which Supermacs' marketing manager replied...

Thanks for your e mail. I will test this route myself this afternoon and record the time. We can have this amended if it takes longer.

to which I helpfully responded

Thank you for your reply. To aid your walk this afternoon here's the shortest walking distance mapped out (600m);
http://g.co/maps/6wefb

You will need to cover 5 meters every second, a bit faster than the current record. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

Regards

Never heard back, since the sign changed I assume he never made it...

thesandeman · 18-09-2012 03:22AM

LOL. Well done. You should email him/her again and ask how they got on. You might get a free Snack Box out of them.

snubbleste · 18-09-2012 07:28AM

J o e wrote: »

Haha I forgot to get back to this thread. Just saw it bumped. I was bored in college at the time and emailed S'macs to see what they'd say.. ...

It is sooooo important to tackle misleading advertising.

coconut5 · 19-09-2012 08:07AM

Haha, I can't believe they changed the sign. You should send them another email saying that the time to Headford Rd. is longer than 5 minutes, lol. I love the part in your email, 'I look forward to hearing how you get on.'

A mission - Walking distance in town

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