"What are these things on my pants?"
If you live in Winnipeg, chances are you’ve seen this ad on billboards or in newspapers for the past month or so. – An initiative by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba; there’s no denying that their intentions were good, but their execution has resulted in a campaign that conveys a message opposite to what I think was intended.
I’m not sure exactly what it is that bothers me about it the most, but I’ll list the problems in no particular order:
1) The font selection.
“Hey, is that arial?”
Yes, yes it is.
2) The obviously insistent usage of the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.
“I don’t care what’s in this ad, but the Las Vegas sign must be incorporated!”
“But sir, the font is cramped, there’s a large gap of white space at the bottom and the grammar resembles something that would come out of Tarzan’s mouth!”
“Clean out your desk, Johnson.”
3) The “Whoopsie-doodle!” look of ineptitude on the face of our handsome model. I mean, talk about trivializing an otherwise very serious problem. He might as well have a word balloon beside his mouth that features the word “Gorsh!”. The guy just spent all his rent money playing the one-armed bandit and all he can emote is something equivalent to an “Aw shucks!”?
Maybe if he thought about how his girlfriend is going to dump him and how he’s going to have to sleep in a Maytag box and whore himself out for a half-eaten sandwich he might be able to take the issue a little more seriously and thus express himself accordingly. As it stands, he’s just another flawed specimen in an ad campaign that misses the mark with its messaging and feels very “local” in its design.
For an example on how to properly gear a message such as this, look no further than the terrific ads recently released by Habitat for Humanity.
Well said sir, well said. That Habitat commercial was amazing.