Rough Theory

4 responses to “Your Future Is Our Future”

1. WildlyParenthetical September 22, 2007 at 10:54 am

   [laughs] This is awesome! I hate advertising; it’s so satisfying when it goes awry!

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2. N Pepperell September 22, 2007 at 11:29 am

   Yeah, I have to admit, I did a real double-take at this. Before I realised it was a Westpac ad – when I was seeing it out of the corner of my eye – I thought this would have been a global warming related ad (which, on one level, I suppose it is – but a mobilisation of the concept to… er… sell financing… There’s a certain irony – in trying to track down an image of this ad so that I could write this post, I saw their other recent ads (some are linked from the SMH article linked above), and the tagline to those is something like (sorry – too groggy this morning to look it up) “because each generation should live better than the last”).

   But what is funniest is that my very first thought on looking closely at this image was, “Jeez! How’s that penguin not gonna fall off that thing?” and then, “Hmm… I wonder if it could survive falling off that thing?” Not really the chain of associations I suspect Westpac was after…

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3. lisa November 9, 2007 at 6:12 pm

   It looks very Titanic-like. Very dramatic with a sense that something major is about to happen. And that we are metaphorically going to melt/sink with it and the penguin.

   Again, not exactly the positive – we’ll fight global warming – message I think they were trying to present.

   When I realised it was Westpac I actually thought for a brief moment: Wow! They’re admitting they do nothing for the environment. Hmmm. Wishful thinking on my part perhaps.

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4. N Pepperell November 10, 2007 at 1:46 pm

   I’ve noticed I haven’t seen these posters lately – perhaps other people had similar reactions 🙂

   (Sorry you were held in moderation – in theory, it should only happen the first time you post…)

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