A Shaw oddity

Have you seen the Major Tom commercial on Shaw promoting the company's high-speed internet with wi-fi?

Yes, that Major Tom. The star of David Bowie’s 1969 tune (and powerful ear worm) Space Oddity.

Shaw’s Major Tom blasts off, floats in space and grins. Looks as if he’s having a peak experience.

But Shaw misses the point of the song.

This is not a space frolic.

Listen to the whole lyric. Something is going horribly wrong.

In the part that Shaw doesn’t play, Ground Control tells Major Tom, “Your circuit’s dead; there’s something wrong.”

Major Tom’s last words: “Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do.”

Perhaps this message of catastrophic technological failure and impending death is not what Shaw wants to associate with the services it is selling.

Major Tom ain’t coming back. Neither should this commercial.