From The Gazette, Feb. 10
Saw this ad in the paper today. It's nice that MoneyGram is willing to support athletes going to the Games, not to mention athletes from another country - and advertising it in a Canadian newspaper. But, of course, the Jamaican Bobsled Team gets support from all corners of the globe (at least ever since Cool Runnings came out).
It's unfortunate that the team didn't qualify and won't be there.
Newspaper advertisements - both in print and online - often suffer from failure of context, where the ad seems inconsiderate next to specific kinds of news stories (usually bad ones).
In newspapers, it tends to happen because advertisers don't know what copy will appear next to their ads, and copy editors often (for good reason) don't know what ads will appear next to their copy. The most obvious example is an ad for an airline next to a story about a plane crash (which is why airlines regularly pull their ads after plane crashes, and editors are told not to put plane crash stories next to airline ads).
The Globe and Mail Jan. 20 Pages A8-A9
In today's Globe and Mail, American Express has one of those special-order ads, the ones with a weird shape that dominate pages without filling them, purposefully leaving holes for editorial copy so that readers' eyes will stay on the page.
The ad reads: "Tired of standing in line?" (or, more accurately, "Tired of standing in liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine?" - the lower-case "I"s like little stick figures weaving across the two-page spread), with a kicker that talks about travel (it doesn't say so explicitly, but the assumption is plane travel for a vacation).
You can probably figure out where this is going by now.
Two editorial holes appear on the page, and both contain news about Haiti. On the top, two standalone pictures from photographer Peter Powell of people struggling for survival. The headline reads: "Where food and water are worth fighting for". On the bottom, an article from Paul Koring about the overtaxed Port-au-Prince airport.
It's not just an ad fail, it's a huge, spectacular double fail filling a two-page spread in the middle of the A section of Canada's national newspaper. Making fun of standing in line is cute anywhere in a newspaper except next to a picture of starving Haitians beating each other up for the necessities of life. And having an ad about vacation travel works everywhere except next to a piece on how the airport is congested at the most awful place on the planet right now.
It's not like it was a massive coincidence that this stuff ended up on this page. Haiti coverage is all over this paper, and has been for the past week.
So, then, I have to ask: Did no one at American Express Canada (wow that's a silly name) think for a moment that the holes they left for editorial content might be filled by news from a disaster that's already a week old, and that such coverage might not play well with their campaign? Did no one in the Globe's advertising department put two and two together?
This is the risk you run when you book these kinds of ads, especially in the A section. Advertiser beware.
See also: Timothy Hunt, who points to a similar problem with a similar ad in another edition.
Le Devoir's Stéphane Baillargeon laments the lack of prominence given to reporting about poverty in the media these days, even through a serious recession.
The reason, of course, is simple: poverty doesn't pay.
It's one of those unfortunate realities of the media that, no matter how many barriers you put up between editorial and advertising, there will always be pressure for the latter to affect the former, and a tendency for that wall to slowly crumble.
One prime example of this (and it's not a recent development) is so-called "special sections". Long ago, some newspaper advertising department genius discovered that you're more likely to attract advertising if the editorial content appeals to the advertiser.
Because automotive companies have among the largest advertising budgets, special sections related to cars are among the most prevalent. In fact, most newspapers have multiple automotive sections every week, even now despite their shrinking sizes. Other attractive topics include sports, employment, real estate, investing, travel, health, home electronics and fashion.
In some cases, the idea of editorial freedom is chucked out the window completely and the section designated "advertorial" (or the more nuanced "special advertising section" or other euphemisms for such). In others, that wall between editorial and advertising is maintained, and the advertisers have no say in the content, except, of course, that it be on a certain topic.
And that's the problem, because not all topics have big-money advertisers willing to bankroll newspaper sections. Books sections are disappearing from newspapers because book publishers don't have large advertising budgets. Poverty doesn't have a financial backer, which is why you never see special sections about it. Homeless shelters don't have large advertising budgets (that won't change no matter how many people subscribe to this blog), and neither do so many issues that don't involve people buying expensive things. Forget reporting on international issues, human relationships, political corruption, the food industry, philosophy, science or other matters that don't involve excess consumption. Instead, they all have to share space in the cramped, overworked general news section, along with the political horse-race stories and cop briefs.
The environment is a bit of an exception to this. A lot of advertisers are pushing green initiatives, either because they think they'll make money off of it or just because they're trying to drum up some good cred. But otherwise, money is a more important factor than importance. That's why there's no special section on science but two on RRSPs and one on golf.
The problem is only getting worse as newspapers cut back. Choosing between a books section that loses a lot of money and an automotive section that pays for itself, newspapers will keep the latter.
Contrast the special sections in commercial newspapers with the special sections in student newspapers and the differences show clearly. The student paper I worked for had special sections on gender, sexuality, disability, poverty, and all sorts of other topics that don't usually get special attention in the mainstream media.
Mainstream media, that is, except Le Devoir. That's why it's so small. It could make a lot of money filling its pages with advertiser-friendly fluff, but it has chosen to build a stronger wall to protect its editorial side. Either that, or it's just being particularly hoity-toity about the type of content it produces.
Ad from Tuesday Gazette's Page A5 (click for full image)
On Tuesday, for World AIDS Day, a full-page ad appeared in the Gazette that was designed to catch attention and promote safe sex. On the background of six really long condoms were over 200 fake personal classified ads, some flirty but others raunchy or crude, promoting anonymous sex but also safe sex. Many mentioned condoms being a must, or made vague references to cleanliness and "safe"-ness.
Three of the more ... graphic of the ads
Although AIDS awareness campaigns are almost always designed to shock with this kind of crudeness, having it right up front of the A section of a newspaper was a bit much for some readers, who have sent in letters to complain, particularly about the unmangled use of F-words:"long fucks", "seeks fuckfriend", "gang bangs", "want to fuck now and again", "meal & fuck session over the holidays", "fuckfest", etc.
You had to scan a while to find the first one, and they're in the minority, but you can imagine some underage children having a few giggles (and scratching their heads).
Was it too much? Should the ad have been partially censored? Or is our collective Victorian attitude toward sex a small price ot pay to prevent people from getting a horrible disease? (One might argue that people's naive delusions about sex are part of the problems AIDS battlers face.)
For me, I'm just impressed the creators of this ad came up with over 200 fake classifieds without repeating them.
515 bus with Casino wrap
You know, if you're going to wrap a bus with the logo of the Montreal Casino, maybe you should do it to a bus that, you know, actually goes to the casino?
The fact that this spot is just across the street from a bus that does actually go to the casino makes this even more silly.
There's just something that seems odd about it. Perhaps some irony somewhere...
UPDATE: Ah yes, of course, as commenters point out, it's because there's nothing "authentic" about General Tao chicken.
A worker pressure-washes the sidewalk through a Rogers ad template
The other night, leaving work just after midnight, I noticed a pair of guys with a truck doing some cleaning. It's not uncommon for graffiti removal pressure-washing to take place late at night downtown, since that's when pedestrian and other traffic is at its lowest.
But I noticed something odd: They were spraying a board of some sort.
The Rogers template up close
Getting a closer look, I saw it was an ad for Rogers, and put two and two together: these guys were part of some guerilla marketing campaign for Rogers, engaging in "reverse graffiti"
Now, reverse graffiti is not a new concept. It's been used before to great effect artistically, and it's been usurped by corporate forces too. So despite what the marketing genius behind this thinks, there's no new ground being broken here.
But that's not what bothers me.
This is a promotional video for Montreal-based Web startup Orderin.ca, which is sort of a one-stop online delivery shop. It's a good idea, especially for smaller restaurants who don't have the money to setup complex websites, but the video ...
Tourist guide pillar at Ste. Catherine and Peel
Earlier this month, the city installed a new one of those tourist guide pillars on Ste. Catherine St. just east of Peel. Since that's just outside the Gazette office, my colleagues quickly took notice. A bit bigger than the three-sided pillar it replaced (but not as big as those giant cylindrical ones), it is noteworthy because the map side is actually an interactive touch screen.
An information screen above a larger touch screen with tourist information
In fact, it's two screens working in concert, though the top one is easily ignored because its black background blends in so well.
It's a prototype developed by Astral Media, which owns the other pillars. Right now the touch screen consists solely of a downtown map and some buttons that allows you to locate various types of locations on it (metro stations, hotels, etc.). There's also a video camera to deter vandalism or attempted theft.
Ads are slightly less static too
The other two sides have static display ads. Though there's some "innovation" there too. The ads are actually scrolled (I mean that literally) back and forth to either allow some timesharing or just impress some marketing executives.
Tourist information runs on Windows
Oh, and in case you didn't notice, the touch screen runs on Windows. Here it's asking me to help install new hardware (perhaps the touch screen itself, since touching didn't work).
The big wigs at H&R Block have apparently heard that social media marketing is the new thing, so they've apparently hired some kids to shoot videos of themselves going places as part of a campaign called "Refund Road Trip"
The one-minute "webisodes" (20 seconds of which are text intros, teasers or ads for H&R Block) are on their website at RefundRoadTrip.ca and on YouTube, where they've gotten a massive modest pathetic view count ranging from 348 views to three views (plus about 800 for the trailer).
On the website, visitors are encouraged to enter a contest (for a whopping $5,000!) where they put together maps of their proposed road trips, where they do the responsible thing and blow their hard-earned money playing tourist.
To me it seems kind of silly in this recession environment to be encouraging people to spend tax refund money on unnecessary trips instead of retirement savings or paying down debt, but those things just aren't as fun as taking an RV and going across the country.
I mention this (and sadly give H&R free publicity) because the Refund Road Trip makes a stop in Montreal. The videos of the Montreal portion of the trip start at Episode 24 (which is on YouTube but hasn't been posted to the H&R website yet).
After that you can see the fun of hauling luggage up stairs, putting on makeup and walking around taking pictures.
My favourite though is Episode 27, in which "Cassidy" (who knows/cares if that's his real name) walks out of an apartment next to Café Chaos on St. Denis and somehow ends up on an OC Transpo bus holding a copy of Ottawa's 24 Hours daily before the sun comes up. That's some fast walking!
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