Is IBM having withdrawal symptoms?

Your Diary item on IBM’s latest global campaign (MW February 3) may be explained by the following.

A “bummer” in modern US and English slang is generally taken to mean a negative physical or emotional effect, usually one produced by illicit drugs, generally LSD, of poor or dangerous quality or strength, which not only fail to deliver the desired “high” but in some cases have extremely unpleasant, if not fatal, consequences for users. The term is particularly associated with the inter-national underground or hippy culture of the mid-Sixties and Seventies, best epitomised in the contemporary phrase: “This trip’s a real bummer, man.”

However, what relevance this all has to IBM’s global campaign still requires elucidation. Perhaps other MW readers may be able to assist?

Jonathan Langley

High Wycombe