Thursday, July 12, 2007

I would like to put a request out to see how many people are viewing this blog and are interested in participating... So, here is an assignment or mission if you will...
I found this ad on Stephan Spencer's Scatterings blog. He spotted it in the print brochure for the Italian Film Festival a couple years ago.I just can't believe someone said, yeah, okay, let's print this. But tell me, what do you think? How does it make you feel?

And in case you were wondering: "Virtus Communications is a boutique agency providing communications solutions for fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands." Their goal? "To get you noticed. Influence behaviour. Lead the way."

8 comments:

molly said...

From looking at this ad I don't understand how what they are selling is portrayed in the picture. The ad disturbs me and leaves me feeling uncomfortable.

Annie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Annie said...

That's how I felt when I first saw it. It's unclear what they're selling, as Molly said, and it makes you feel unsettled. My impression from what Rebecca said, is that they are an ad agency...? The man branded her. (play on words? Like a brand they advertise for?) If I owned a company, I definitely wouldn't go to them for business.

HaNNaH said...

I also could not figure out what they were selling from the ad -- so it wasn't such a successful campaign...

But I did look at their website. Not only are they all about "Getting you noticed with influencial behavior" but really about being edgy. I see this as edgy in a really creepy way; a way that reminds me of death or a horror film. Nothing about this ad would make me want to "lead the way" with Virtus Communications.

barbara said...

we all agree it is creepy. and it evokes the scarey, creepy feelings...

A couple of questions for you--
1. what feeling are they SELLING? and to whom? Is someone in power in this picture? Who is 'winning' or has the most powerful feelings?

In visual literacy workshops we talk about the maker of the message selling a feeling rather than a product (then you hope they will identify the feeling with the product).

2. what if the genders were reversed? what would it say then?

mmmmmmmm.

HaNNaH said...

To me, the feeling is revenge. The one in power, or the one winning, is the man holding the weapon. The clear loser is the one on the gurney. I would say the creater of the add is selling the product to anyone who wants to excell past others. The revenge is, in a sense, marketing the idea of beating all others who might be competition.

I don't see this add so much as a gender issue. While it shows the man in a position of more power, if the roles were reversed I think the message would stay the same -- revenge is sweet.

Casey said...

I agree with Hannah if the gender roles were reversed
the feeling would still be the same. However the image would be deemed less acceptable to society hence unprintable.

Anonymous said...

I am working on a paper for school that revolves around offensive advertising. This particular advertisement caught my eye. The advertisement is one put out by the Virtus Communications marketing company. The picture is part of a pictorial that revolves around an angel who's wings were removed and involve a preprinted storyline. Considering that each picture part of the "advertisement" for this marketing company were printed separate, I would presume that they were banking on market "shock and awe" for exposure. I agree that it is definitely done in poor taste and working on a petition to the company regarding their creativity.