A lot of advertising is about creating a brand. I just saw a really pretentious advert. Can you guess what it is for? Men were moving the landscape, pulling the grass like a rug, pinging back fir trees, etc. It was about strength. Whenever you see an advert with remote, monumental epic landscapes, untouched by the modern world, austere with extremely expensive award winning photography and cinematic production values you know it has to be for that gloopy black alcoholic drink beloved by the Irish. That’s right Guinness. I didn’t know, but I just thought, this advert is a load of pseudo, arty wank. It must be for Guinness and I was right. Gustave Flaubert wrote, ‘Language is a cracked kettle on which we bang our tunes to make bears dance, when what we long for is to move the stars to pity. The advertisers at Guinness will the stars to pity when they have a cracked kettle. It is another triumph of style over substance. I guess advertising works.
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