Effective Advertising or Just Plain Rage?

The name Kelly Forbes may not immediately ring bells. Aside from the controversy which normally surrounds a story of a wife killing her husband, there was nothing particularly special about this news item. But this story caught my eye and didn't let go. For one, the suspect in question was from Trinidad and Tobago. Instantly, that fact alone drew me in. I read the article and said, "Aww Hoh...a Trini make de news?" As I read on, the details of her husband's death made the story all the more fascinating to me. It turns out, this woman at 5'5 and 150 lbs. was able to overpower and strangle a man who outweighed her by 100 lbs. and stood at least a foot taller than she. A toxicology report revealed there were no sedatives found in Michael Forbes' system. Investigators were baffled.

To make things even more interesting, the weapon of choice was an orange, heavy-duty extension cord. You know, the kind that no one seems to have until there's a block party and soon they're running down driveways,criss-crossing the pavement to provide the tunes at the proper decibel. Yeah, that kind. Anyway, my sister and I sat around one day discussing the tragedy and humour of this story. She looked up from the paper and remarked, "Man, yuh mustn't piss off a Trini woman, eh? Yuh doh know what dey can do!" We chuckled about it and then she went on to say that the extension cord must have come from Home Depot and may have even cultivated some courage in Mrs. Forbes to pull off such a task. "How so?" I asked.
We erupted into laughter when she reminded me of their slogan.


I don't want to trivialize the death of a man. Loss of human life is always sad and I wish it had not been the case. But I can't help but wonder that perhaps there is such a thing as too effective advertising. Kelly Forbes is shrouded in mystery. We don't know if she was an abused woman who simply snapped, or if she's an evil woman with Gladiator-like strength on reserve. What we do know is that she found more than one use for an extension cord. No block parties were scheduled by the way. Trinidadians have a saying. "Stone fall in yuh garden." It means you have guilt about something you have done. Well, they seem to have fallen around Kelly Forbes. A jury has convicted the Long Island woman of manslaughter, rejecting her claims of self-defense.


It seems to me that everyone would have been better off had she applied the slogan of Home Depot's main competitor to her marriage instead.

Perhaps they would still be newlyweds, both alive and constructing a life as one...No extension cord needed.