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The colonization of public (and private) space

17:31 / 14.03.02

from yahoo/reuters

quote: Guinness Taps Into Allure of Irish Eyes
Thu Mar 14,11:17 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - St. Patrick's Day drinkers of Guinness might be forgiven for thinking they've had a bit too much of the black stuff when they set eyes on the bar staff this weekend.

Pint pullers at selected Irish pubs around the world will be wearing specially designed green contact lenses advertising pints of Guinness, the drinks company said Thursday.

Guinness said it alighted on the subliminal campaign after research showed that more than half of British drinkers had not decided what to order by the time they reached the bar.

"We realized that there's still one place that drinkers have to look: into the eyes of the bar staff taking their order," said David Smith, brand director of Guinness GB.

Celebrations of St. Patrick's Day -- a highlight of the Irish calendar -- stretch from Dublin to New York this weekend, with drinking an integral part of the festivities.

First, can you top that? I've heard of renaming lecture halls, putting ads on podiums, Volkswagon giving away adwrapped beetles... But I haven't been paying close attention to newer fronteirs this year.

There have been a couple Ad discussions lately, mostly centering on music and McDonalds. Regardless of whether comissioning clones named Microsoft Windows is inevitable, is the continued colonization of public space by advertising right and natural, or should it be stopped?

04:00 / 15.03.02

I was waiting at the bus stop the other day and an advert caught my eye. It was a picture of a pint of black liquid shaped to resemble a party popper and a mesage saying simply St Patrick's Day March 16th underneath. No brand label anywhere, although it is pretty clear it is an advert for Guinness.
Obviously the intent is to hammer home the connection between Guinness, Irishness and fun. As if each is a natural part of the other.

08:00 / 15.03.02

waiting for internal organs to be tattoes with ad slogans to impress surgeons and pathologist with...

08:14 / 15.03.02

Ad buttons in the groin area might work well in a subliminal sense. While we maintain eye contact with someone else a little too long for it to qualify as subliminal, research on eye movements has indicated that first contact with a [member of the gender of your specific taste] in any situation involves a rapid look at the groin that happens completely subconsciously and usually isn't even recalled. Any subconscious link with sex should do it.

Well, for most of us anyway.

08:23 / 15.03.02

"I'm not looking at your cock, its the advert i'm interested in..."

10:09 / 15.03.02

quote:Originally posted by Buk:
I was waiting at the bus stop the other day and an advert caught my eye. It was a picture of a pint of black liquid shaped to resemble a party popper and a mesage saying simply St Patrick's Day March 16th underneath. No brand label anywhere, although it is pretty clear it is an advert for Guinness.
Obviously the intent is to hammer home the connection between Guinness, Irishness and fun. As if each is a natural part of the other.

That's far more insiduous than you first realise. St. Patrick's day is actually on the 17th March. In a move of pure genius*, the stout manufacturer has decided that one day's binge drinking is not long enough and is promoting the _day before_ on its posters.

Took me a couple of passes past the poster to actually spot that one.

* oh damn, I'm just a marketing message sponge

Morlock - groupie for hire

11:27 / 15.03.02

Yeah, I saw one recently about 'St Patrick's weekend'. Twice the profits with just a little linguistic trickery. Nice.

11:30 / 15.03.02

Precisely who are these weirdos who don't know what they're having until they reach the bar?
This sounds a bit perverse to me.

As for St Patrick's Day being advertised as synonymous with beer and fun, for me it tends to consist more of hiding away from hordes of drunken people clogging up my pub with their 'I can't take my beer but my granny's neighbour was called O'Hare'.

12:07 / 15.03.02

I made the point somewhere about loyalty cards being a colonisation of private space. Nearly worthless little plastic adverts that we carry along with us in our wallets.
I noticed another colonisation at work the other day. A colleague referred to the company we work for as 'we', as in we have this policy and we do this. I found that kind of depressing/annoying.
I suppose the flashing Amazon gif on Barbelith is similar. An corporate internet giant nudging into our private world urging us to buy, buy, buy.

12:10 / 15.03.02

i'm curious about st. pats day in England--it's long been a huge party in the u.s., especially in places with large Irish immigrant communities (Chicago, New York), but I was surprised when I was in England recently to see all the st. patricks day ads and decorations in greeting card and party supply shops. is that a recent phenomenon?

12:37 / 15.03.02

quote:Originally posted by mr y:
Precisely who are these weirdos who don't know what they're having until they reach the bar?

Perhaps people who say "Hey, I'd love a babycham!" *

*argh, done it again...

12:47 / 15.03.02

Subliminal subvertising