art not ads

A beer-pusher is currently advertising its drug using the slogan “belong”. The desperate importance of “belonging” is illustrated by film of a huge, swarming flock of birds; in the background plays one of those a chirpy pop-rock songs that seem to be 10-a-penny at the moment.

It’s a little cryptic, so I’ve hunted high and low for a translation, and apparently, this is what it means:

“Belong! It doesn’t matter what all this is about; in fact, we’re not even going to tell you. That’s not important any more, those days are gone. You just need to BELONG. Everyone else belongs, and that’s what’s important, isn’t it? Join the herd, you’ll be safe. It doesn’t matter what we’re selling, you need it because everyone else tells you. Don’t question it, don’t try to resist, and don’t be different - whatever you do, DON’T BE DIFFERENT. Don’t think, don’t question, just BELONG. Belonging is what’s important, and you can illustrate your belonging by purchasing the correct products. Everything’s the same these days anyway: it doesn’t really matter what you buy, so you may as well BELONG. Why wouldn’t you want to BELONG? Why on Earth wouldn’t you? It doesn’t matter what it is that you belong to, don’t worry about that. It’s like an exclusive club where all your mates are members! In fact, you’ll automatically make friends just by joining! Well, not friends exactly, but at least you’ll know who you don’t like, and that’s everyone who’s not in the club, right? So everyone who is in the club must be your friend. It’s obvious. All this could be yours, just by buying some piss-poor lager. Seriously! That’s what we’re offering. Membership to some nebulous herd of clueless people who’re waiting to be told what to do, what to think, what to wear, what to buy - people just like you! Now some people say that you could save money by not BELONGING, by not purchasing those special things that you need to show in order to BELONG. But where’s the fun in that? You work hard for that cash, so spend it! And what better to spend it on than BELONGING?”

Wow, that sounds just brilliant.

First, apologies for the lack of activity on this blog in recent weeks. Yet again, “real life” has intruded into the diminishing spare time that is available to run and contribute to this project. Hopefully we shall see more activity!

Flying adverts

A few weeks ago I was wandering through Regent’s Park . It was a pleasant spring day, the traffic hum had faded into the background, and life was good. Then, in a distant patch of grey sky, I noticed a little plane dragging one of those huge banners behind it. It was distant enough that I couldn’t read it, so I can’t pass on the advertising message, boo hoo. It saddened me that in the middle of this beautiful park, advertising could still reach me. In one of the few secluded and green spots in London, a relative haven of quiet and relaxation, it was still impossible for me to prevent advertising from being poked into my eyes.

The Royal Parks are apparently governed by the Royal Parks Agency . They receive funding from a central government grant, but supplement it with “commercial activities such as concerts”. It seems that “commerical activities” also includes allowing advertising. Or maybe it doesn’t? Maybe the plane and banner were actually targetted at eyeballs elsewhere. If that’s the case, I wonder how the law regulates this? Provided planning permission isn’t required, is it okay to erect something that can be seen from 5 miles away? 10 miles? 100? It’s time we found out!

Hijacking Spaces

The good people at Space Hijackers have been in touch, and at least one of them has been kind enough to sign up to the Art Not Ads pledge . These are the people responsible for London to Brighton Crazy Golf, National Siesta Day, and Midnight Cricket, among a great many other things. Wonderful. There’s nothing quite like rattling the bars on the cage once in a while.

This one hove into view a few days ago as I was walking to the shops in Hampstead. The ad was a typical football related piece of pap: logo and name of bank on top, and “COME ON ENGLAND!” underneath. Inspired indeed. I’m sure the advertising gurus will be praising that one for weeks. But of course the question has to be asked again: who’s selling our skies??? And who gave them permission? I don’t remember anyone asking.

Apologies for the terrible picture, I only had my mobile phone at the time. It’s not really clear from this photo how enormous these banner adverts are, although you can compare it with the size of the helicopter, which is visible as a small black blob to the top right of the banner.