Driving him up the Walls

Allow me, please, to augment Tim G. Babcock's July 4 Noise letter with the following:

What can he possibly mean: "By itself the Walls Ice cream jingle might not be so bad..."

Is Mr. Babcock mad or hard of hearing? It's gnawing into our brains! The Walls Ice cream phenomenon is a foreign electronic intrusion. An outrage to the Indonesian people and an insult to the integrity of the repertoire of sounds which help make Indonesia so special.

One doesn't find these nasty things in the Walls home territory for the simple reason that the Australian public wouldn't tolerate them. Easy though for the company to operate in public-passive Indonesia. But if there is a single person among Indonesia's almost 200 million people who doesn't find the incessant Walls jingle disagreeable then I would be very surprised.

Indonesia is undergoing something of a cultural awareness revolution, promoting all things Indonesian. Hotel names are changed from English, etc. One wonders how Walls' mindless jingle fits into this scheme. But it does smell of big business and that comes with its own rules.

There's no need to pussyfoot about "evanescence" and "triviality." The problem is serious and without unified action it will not go away.

Thank you, Mr. Babcock, for raising the subject. And while you're at it, please find space to pity the sad individuals who are dressed up like barber poles and condemned to push these odious Walls carts. It sort of completes the indignation.

BOB HOBMAN

Manado, North Sulawesi