W.O.O.

When I worked on the breakdown recoveries, we had some abbreviations that were used on paperwork

My favourite was COWS. It was an engine fault - Cut Out, Won't Start

Another was WOO - Woman On her Own

If you were called out to a WOO, you were supposed to make a special effort to get there quickly, particularly at night. It was a little pointless, because it wasn't as though we stopped at Starbucks for a brew on our way to men on their own, so it didn't really make much difference. Although I think the dispatchers would have prioritised a WOO over a MOO if they got one of each at the same time

I've noticed a few WOOs popping up in TV adverts lately. Have you?

When Thompson Holidays decided to rebrand themselves as TUI, their adverts featured a woman singing an annoying song, who was clearly on holiday on her own. It got me thinking that TUI must be the holiday company for sad women who go away alone. In every variant of the advert, she was holidaying on her own

Then came the Trivago advert. That's been around for quite a while, with the sexy Australian woman telling us how to get cheaper hotel rooms, but in a recent advert, she's actually staying in a hotel and using all the amenities. And she's on her own

Then there's the Hotels.com advert with Captain Obvious and the very annoying, 'Still Winning' woman. She's apparently earned a free nights stay in a hotel and she's using it in the advert. On her own

What is it about women holidaying on their own? Is this just another feminist ploy to remove the idea of men from society?

Or am I just being overly cynical?

(Another recent trend in adverts, one that I find very annoying, is to take an old, upbeat song and have a female voice sing it very slowly. I hate that!)