AOL Promotes Literacy with Mystifying Virus Solution Imagery

A good illustration clarifies language or, properly rendered, can even replace words altogether. There's so much to be learned from a picture.

That's why we're so confused by this banner ad for AOL's PC protection solution.

So we've got three interconnected beads sliding out of this deeply concentric woman's head: a sludge splatter, Nancy Drew (or is it Carmen Sandiego? The plot thickens) and a signal tower. We're thinking radiation. We're thinking conspiracy. We're thinking female Dick Tracey chases down menacing toxic blob whose sending ear-splitting signals are reverberating across the sleepy town of Conglomoville.

We're thinking AOL should really have run this by a couple more people without the text.