The Funniest Tshirt Designs of the Decade

Just found this website where someone has collected some of the funniest Tshirt designs of 2009. Also includes some good illustration: http://abduzeedo.com/funniest-t-shirt-designs-decade the above two have to be my favorites! most of them are visual puns on brands and iconic people.

Pepsi's Iphone App Uproar

Pepsi recently developed a new application for the iphone, called the "Amp up before you score" app- designed to provide men with chat up lines for 24 various types of women, while promoting the Amp energy drink. However, the application created a bad reaction from the public, forcing Pepsi to Tweet an apology, and further complaints led to the withdrawal of the app all together.

Overall, I like the idea of this promotion technique- it involves the specific target audience, and uses the medium of current popular technology. It also provides a clear personality to the brand. However I feel that Pepsi took it a bit far by encouraging female stereotypes, and feeding teenage boys a disrespectful outlook on wooing women, with chat up lines such as "I've discovered the source of global warming. You're HOT." I can't help but wonder whether there would have been such an uproar (including threats to boycott all Pepsi products) if there was a similar app for women too.

Should Advertisers Risk Offending to Enlighten?

When researching for my Independent Project, I came across an article debating whether advertisers should shock people in order to create awareness. The example they used above is an awareness campaign by Cordaid, for third world poverty. Although the ad does shock you, I think that it shocks people into realisation, and thus successfully affecting the audience's views- a key aim in charity awareness campaigns. However I do think offensive material is an important consideration for advertisers, as it should be avoided in order to not create a negative reaction from the target audience.

The Turner Art Awards

The Turner Prize 2009 exhibition opened today at Tate Britain, London. The four nominated artists are Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright. The judges for the Turner Prize 2009 are Mariella Frostrup, Charles Esche, Jonathan Jones and Andrea Schlieker.My favourite is Roger Hiorns' piece bellow, where he has transformed a derelict flat into a cave of blue crystals.

Lucy Skaer is the artist who's work opens the exhibition. Below is her work 'coal dust', which, as implied, are sculpted from coal dust. I fail to recognise their beauty personally, and I was surprised when I read that they were praised for bringing beauty to something ugly- this isn't a piece of art that I would describe as beautiful! I would however describe Roger Hiorns' crystal piece as "turning something ugly beautiful".

Aubrey Beardsley

Writing about the 60s/70s music posters, and the Italian Medusa sculpture, I was reminded about one of my all time favourite artists and couldn't resist looking up images of his work. One in particular is the Salome piece shown above. It captures the biblical story of Salome ordering John the Baptist's head to be chopped, after he described her parents marriage as unlawful. Below is another one of his pieces, showing the intricate detail and flowing lines that I love in Beardsley's monotone pieces.

Soft Machine Promotion

For a few years now I have been interested in 1960s-70s psychedelic music posters and promotional material. I love the style, and the colour techniques they used. The bottom poster is one of my favorites and it really reminds me of one of my favourite artists, Aubrey Beardsley- in fact some of the posters resemble his style so much I'm pretty his paintings must have influenced many of the poster designs in the 60s/70s. I also like how you notice more and more as you study the picture- for example, the bottom poster shown above has the copy positioned to form the shape of a skull.

Medusa Sculpture

'Head of Medusa'
Sculpture
By Benvenuto Cellini.

I recently saw this statue in Florence, and was fascinated by it. I love sculpture, interested in mythological stories, and have always love artwork where there's a story behind it. The Statue has it all! Depicting the story of heroic Perseus decapitating the evil Medusa, the sculpture captures the gore and victory beautifully and dramatically. The bronze statue presents Perseus holding up the head of Medusa over her decapitated body, modelled with the writhing snakes of Medusa's hair.
The story behind the construction of the statue adds more depth and evil to the piece- Cellini used all his household cutlery and metal pieces in order to complete the sculpture, and as a result of it being so big, he set fire to the roof of his house as he stoked the furnace.

Ayios Neophytos Monastery

A Cypriot guy who I recently met was telling me about this monastery, and I had to look it up. It is situated in Paphos, South Cyprus and is thought to have been founded by a Cypriot Saint in the late 1100s. The reason I was interested in it was because he said the building was carved out of the mountain side, and is a beautiful piece of architecture to visit. Looking at the pictures I am a little disappointed- maybe he praised it a little too much for my imagination, as I expected something much more intricate. Still, an interesting piece and an alternative method of architectural construction!

No Sad Big Smile

This clever and original advertising campaign for Adidas caught my eye a while ago now, but it is one that I still think about and remember clearly- which is always evidence of a good, successful campaign. The video ad tells the story of a Japanese man's career as a break up service, presenting a range of situations he has to go through when breaking up with people on behalf of their partners. At the end it then shows the new Adidas clothing range in his scooter, marketed as perfect for stressful every day wear. Here is a link to it on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFaKNttGP9U

Although I'm unable to find the original website again, I remember the great impact it had, and the interactive services it offered. There was one that allowed you to send your own break up text using a choice of various messages, sent to your partner on behalf of the 'no sad big smile' break up service. I thought this was really witty, and an original concept- especially for a clothing line rather than something more directly linked like mobile phones.

HR Giger

Alien (1979)

I was watching the film 'Alien' the other night and it reminded me of an artist I used to love- HR Giger. Cant believe I totally forgot about him! He designed all the alien spaceship interiors and the alien models themselves. I used to love his gothic artwork work when I was growing up- a more mature, horrific and detailed version of Tim Burton's gothic artwork. He inspired me through many of my GCSE artworks! Also a great film- I'm not one for fantasy Sci-Fi films normally but really like the Alien films. Maybe because of HR Giger's artistic input!

WWII Photography, Koln Cathedral

"Beyond this point you draw fire on our Fighting Men. He risks his life 24 hours a day, Do You?"

Just found this photograph on a cathedral architecture website. It shows an American soldier and a destroyed Panther tank in front of Koln, Germany Cathedral- 4th April 1945. I don't always like war photography, because I think they often always aim to capture the same theme of horror, when there are so many other reasons and affects of war. I particularly like this photograph though, as I think it captures a different side to war other than the process of destruction- It makes you wonder what the soldier is reading as he reads the sign. Pride? Guilt? You can see that previously there must have been lots going on, as the residue of the tank remains. But whats left is this aftereffect of war, and the emotions that this soldier is feeling as he reads that sign.

I also like the depth of field on this photo- the crisp, clear focus on the soldier and the sign, and the slightly, but not totally out of focus cathedral and tank behind them. It highlights the connection between the sign and the soldiers emotions, and the fact that both are a product of the destruction of war seen in the background.

Pisa Cathedral- Table Design

Apologies for the bad quality photos- I figured they were better than nothing. During my recent holiday in Italy, I was very aware that we were not to collect 'holiday snaps' for our blog. The design of this table in the Pisa Cathedral interested me though- two marble carved angels holding up one slab of marble to create the Alter table. The design intrigued me, as there were no extra legs to support the table, and the two angels were carved differently making it more difficult to create a balanced structure- the mathematics that must have gone into the design of this table must have been so accurate so ensure a level table with sturdy support. The carvings of the two angels were also beautifully done, adding character to the piece, and an alternative and more modern design to interior of the Cathedral that surrounded to table.

Nevermore 3

My fellow graphic designer friend from back home has always particularly been into animation and games design, and has great experience from this platform game he designed and created in his own time. He's already managed to sell it as a feature for a website, and has received great feedback from other sites including e4 http://www.e4.com/game/nevermore-3/play.e4 click here to play the game!

What I particularly love about Adam's game is the style and beautiful design behind the game. Although I'm not really into games design myself, I can definitely appreciate the time and skill that has gone into this.

Product Placement: UPDATE

After my previous blog entry about 'Product Placement in the UK', there have been some dramatic changes! Today I heard on the news that the Government has lifted the ban on product placement, thus changing the future of British TV forever. I wonder why the government made this major U-turn in their views of product placement, as my last blog entry on this subject discussed, they previously seemed really against the idea. Perhaps it's the £100 million a year that this move will be worth to commercial channels- an economic boost they could all do with in the current situation.

There are some exceptions however. The BBC will still be prevented from using product placement, but do still benefit from the change as it will reduce the pressure on the BBC to share its £3.6 billion income from the license fee. Another exception will also be children's TV.

I think if done well, this will certainly have a positive impact for both advertisers and broadcasters, not only because of the large amounts of money it will bring in, but also because of the self-scheduling method of watching TV that is becoming more and more literal. Many digital packages such as Sky+ allow viewers to fast-forward commercial ad breaks, making them less successful for advertisers, and therefore making less money for broadcasters too. Product placement could therefore open doors for advertisers and broadcasters where others are being closed- there couldn't be a better time for it.

McCurry Branding Row

American fast food company McDonald's have just lost an 8 year legal battle with Malaysian fast food company McCurry, as McDonald's argued that they were infringing their trademark rights by using the 'Mc' prefix in their brand name. The owner of McCurry explained that he used the brand name as an abbreviation of 'Malaysian Chicken Curry', and it was ruled by a federal court that there was no evidence of him trying to promote the company as part of the worldwide brand of McDonald's.

When I initially saw the logo for McCurry it really did remind me of the McDonald's brand. But as the 'Mc' prefix is common in surnames anyway, and the owner seems to have a valid reason for using it, I don't see how McDonald's can really copyright the use of it. Perhaps if the Company used an alternative colour scheme it wouldn't resemble McDonald's as much. I think the ruling was fair though.

The Shock Tactic in Advertising... UPDATE

Just read Elizabeths Pisani's view on this advertisement in the Guardian, who objects to the ad but not due to the shock tactic. She points out the inaccuracies of the ad- 500 people died if Aids in Germany in 2007, which is no where near as many people as Hitler killed. She also points out that "almost all sexual transmission of HIV in white communities in Western Europe is between [gay] men", so targeting straight women will hardly reduce the risk of HIV in gay men. The advertising agency 'Das Comitee' who did the campaign did it unpaid- perhaps this accounts for the lack of research into who they should be targeting? unless the brief stated it of course... Pisani also argues that HIV is no longer even a mass murderer in rich, developed countries, and more an "inconvenient disease that will have you taking pills for the rest of your life [and] cost taxpayers lots of money".
If the agency simply did this to promote themselves, and saw it as an opportunity to create a shock-campaign in order to receive world-wide media coverage, it definitely worked.

The Shock Tactic in Advertising...

Too Far or Highly Effective?

A recent advertising campaign in Germany caused controversy, when an Aids awareness campaign showed a woman having sex with a series of mass murderers, including Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin. The Hamburg advertising agency, Das Comitee, used the shock tactic to highlight the dangers of unprotected sex and the horrific 'mass murder' effects of aids, with the slogan "AIDS ist ein Massenmorder" ("AIDS is a mass murderer"). The creative director of the agency said their aim was to "show the ugliness of the illness, not of aids victims", but various Aids organisations across Europe have condemned it, saying it represents aids sufferers as mass murderers.

I can definitely see how aids sufferers would be offended by this, as it appears to represent the sufferers as the murderers rather than the illness itself. However, I think this shock tactic will definitely work as an awareness campaign, and make people realise of how easy it is to contract aids. Another criticism though... if you watch the TV/Cinema advertisement http://aids-ist-ein-massenmoerder.de/typo3/index.php?id=aids_kampagne&L=1 there is no advice on how to prevent catching aids.

Ambient Advertising

UKTV channel Dave recent advertising campaign...

The marketing people behind the UKTV channel Dave recently came up with an ambient marketing campaign, just in time for this years channel of the year awards. They placed a couple of old brown suitcases, presented with stickers on them reading "The case for Dave", onto baggage carousels at Edinburgh airport. They were heaved off, and on again, over and over. Although being the perfect time of the year for the use of this location for a campaign, I wonder why they only did it in one airport, and not in others and train stations. However, I also don't admire the campaign much for lack of creativity, and realise maybe the campaign wasn't very successful and so resulting in no further coverage.

I found this much more creative Dave campaign from last summer to promote the "summer of funshine" schedules, which will see great British comedy series, such as Blackadder, Open All Hours and The Vicar Of Dibley, broadcast every evening. The campaign says much more about the channel's personality, involved the public directly and was more widespread. The initial aim was to sponsor students as human billboards, and to stencil faces of British comedy onto their back. However, as the campaign became more widespread, anyone and everyone who wanted to get involved could. This campaign appears much more thought through- it's fun and links to the promotion directly, while in keeping with the summer spirit and British comedy.

American Apparel Ad Ban in the UK

I have just read in an online news article, that the UK advertising standards authority have made the decision to ban a campaign by American Apparel retails. This was due to a series of photos of a model who appeared to be under the age of 16, who was stripping off for what looked like an amateur porn shoot.
The ban came after the ASA received a complaint on the campaign, that it was offensive, unsuitable for younger audiences, and inappropriate, as the model appeared young and vulnerable. American Apparel defended the ad, by saying the model was supposed to be perceived as a 23-year old woman, relaxing in her hoody around her apartment, in order to reflect the soft-to-touch material. The ASA agreed that they had not breached any of the advertising codes on nudity, but banned the ad on the basis of the model appearing to be under 16, and progressively showing more and more flesh through the series of photos. They concluded that the ad could create serious offense for some readers.
Although the ad doesn't show much nudity, I can definitely see why it could cause offense, as the girl does appear to be very young and naive, and rather vulnerable to the situation. American Apparel have created a lot of controversy over their sexual campaigns in the past, so this comes as no surprise to me.

Dr. Gunther von Hagens

My previous post on Damien Hirst brought up a discussion between my sister and I about artists who dissect animals and plants for their artwork. She showed me a catalogue from an exhibition she went to on Dr. Gunther von Hagens' work, which I know she has researched and studies quite a bit. I've never really taken much notice of his work before, as I didn't really want to see dissected and stripped human bodies, but some of the ones shes showed me were artistically presented in various ways, using a range of techniques. I also feel strangely more comfortable about his work than I do with Damien Hirst's, as I know all the people he uses have signed up and volunteered for their bodies to be used once they have died. I also spoke to my housemate who is a medic, about Dr. Gunther von Hagens' work, and he was very in interested in seeing some. My sister said that the exhibition attracted a lot of medic students interested in the dissections, as well as art lovers- I think it's great how he's managed to add this unique take on art, and attract many different audiences.

One of his techniques is also interesting, as he injects their blood streams with plastic based material, allowing it to take the form of the body.