Advertising

[gothwalk]

The more I work in design, the more I notice the damn stuff everywhere. A few collected comments...

O2's graphic designers have clearly discovered Bryce, and they luurrrrve it. That, or one of their advertising execs thinks Bryce's desert-and-moon landscapes are really, really great. I've been seeing them in game publications for years though, so they end up looking a bit naff to me.

Paddy Power have chutzpah. There was a billboard ad for their casino site a couple of weeks ago, featuring the Last Supper, with the table covered in cards, roulette tables, and so on, with text "There's a place for fun and games". Some either clueless or paid-by-Paddy-Power churchman did a whole lot of protesting and complaining, and the ad got coverage in national newspapers. Eventually, under a storm of protest from various quarters, they retracted the ad - and replaced it with one reading, in big red text on a plain white background, "There's a place for fun and games, and apparently this isn't it.", and a url you can go to to see the ad.

Finally, the power of the window display never fails to amaze me. I had the notion that this season's A-Wear lines (yes, I do in fact notice these things) were much better than usual, and yet looking at the clothes proved that actually, they're no better than usual. This mystified me until I saw the backdrop images in the windows - white and gold baroque rooms. Nothing to do with the clothes, but a direct line to my sense of taste.

Comments

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

<cynicism mode="church">That's just a woman. The other thing was Jesus!</cynicism>

I'd be interested to see what response the actual authorities for advertising got to those two ads; I suspect a lot more of the ordinary public were offended by the woman-in-labour one than by the Last Supper. It's also a bizarre sideswipe into the thinking of Intellectual Property; the church protecting their trademarks.

[mr-wombat.livejournal.com]

I liked the ad well enough but I'm no fan of trivilaising religon in general. You won't see Paddy Power putting together an ad that makes fun of Islam or the Hare Krishnas but christianity is fair game, and in doing so they're not just having a go at the Roman Catholic church (which wouldn't justify the mockery even if they were) but at all the christian sects, many of whom have done nothing to deserve the derision of their icons.

[penexpers.livejournal.com]

I think I read somewhere that the ASA have gone on record as saying The Last Supper ad received a level of complaints that was unprecedented for billboard advertising. They obviously didn't disclose who made the complaints, but generally it's complaints from the public.