HAMMERING A THEME...

The lovely Sally Gonzalez, a longtime member of the LTN Editorial Advisory Board and a shareholder at Baker Robbins & Co., says I'm not alone in my distaste for ridiculous jargon.

She forwards this article from Fortune, by Anne Fisher, who rants about how corporate America is getting jargon-frenzied. She even picks on some words that I actually like and use all the time, including:

*Win-win: "The cynics among us loathe this one with a passion," she notes. *Core-competencies: "Division heads everywhere: You have been warned."

But I'm with her 100% on these:

*thought leader;
*mission-critical;
* "There is no I in team;"
*value proposition (AMEN);
and her top pet peeve: *any phrase that includes the word "vision."

And even Pepsi's jumped on the jargon bandwagon. Both Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero are Pepsi spokespersons, and featured in some of the soft drinks' TV ads. (Click here to watch the "Stand-Off" ad where they "break" the moon.)

One of the TV ads,  not currently on Pepsi's site, but recently aired, has A-Rod, Vladdie, and a couple other sports dudes fidgeting in chairs as they watch a corporate geek give a presentation in a bland conference room, where he enthusiastically proclaims that he has come up with the "Strateg-olution" to a problem.

The tag line to the ad is along the lines of "some people's jobs are just more fun to watch."

I just crack up every time I see that ad.