By LORE’ McLAREN | Truckee
I read with interest, and no small degree of consternation, a recent advertisement for Schaffer’s Mill Golf and Lake Club, offering “attractive membership options” to “residents, non-residents, and young executives.”
I find the tripartite division of eligible applicants amusing, but also somewhat discomforting. First, I’m not sure how the category “young executives” is not already subsumed under “residents” or “non-residents.” Are there young executives out there who are somehow neither residents nor non-residents?
Next, I am mystified by the need to specify “young” executives. Are old executives not eligible for membership? Or are they just not eligible for “attractive” memberships? Is there a category of un-attractive memberships for which old executives would qualify? Or is the subtle juxtaposition of “attractive” and “young” a subliminal clue as to the type of members they are actually looking for?
This ad is disturbing in its not-so-thinly veiled goal of social engineering and the promotion of an exclusivity that is becoming all too common in the Truckee/Tahoe area.
Why don’t they just come out and say it: “If you are a young and beautiful member or aspiring member of the 1 percent, we’re the club for you!”
Note to Schaffer’s Mill’s accounts payable department: My invoice for this cutting-edge ad copy will be forthcoming.
