In advertising terms, a strong image, used well in print, has tremendous power, even in this digital age. One such was the ad for Zara Home, pictured left, which ran in The Star last week. The image is stunning, rather like a work of art. There is something alluring about it, like a still life painting it draws you in. It’s a simple shot of a table, set perhaps for breakfast, with simple yet elegant cutlery and crockery and a designer chair in the background. It says peace, it says happiness and most of all, it says understated class. Those are all the things Zara Home wants potential customers to know they will find it in its new store at the Mall of Africa. Classic, simple, effective advertising. If I were you, Zara, I would print posters of this pic and sell them. You would make a fortune because it would look great on a wall somewhere.
An Orchid to you, Zara Home – but I would be interested to know which agency was behind the ad and who the art direction team were. You also deserve Orchids.
Those who sing the praises of taxi advertising, because it takes your message far and wide, seldom worry about the possible damage to your brand that can result from its being emblazoned on the side of a vehicle that brazenly breaks the traffic laws. This didn’t seem to worry the people who put together a taxi advert for SABC’s popular Muvhango TV series. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this taxi, wrapped completely in the Muvhango message, go roaring through an intersection. The driver, apart from his speed, was not breaking any other laws, as far as I could see.
But the message on the taxi, especially given our criminally high road death rate, was bizarre, to say the least. “Not even a red robot,” started the message, “can stop this beef.” I assume the “beef” is a feud between two of the major characters in the soapie, judging from the picture of them going toe to toe. Let’s leave aside the Americanism “beef” – which would undoubtedly be lost on many of the viewers of Muvhango – but the cynical and irresponsible use of the “not even a red robot” message takes my breath away. Those who put this on the side of a taxi clearly expected that, at some stage, this driver would go through a red robot. Tell me I am wrong when I say this is the default mode of most of the taxi drivers on our roads. In other words, you, SABC, are having a marketing giggle at a habit responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people a year on our roads.
Let’s hope your taxi advertising doesn’t end up on the TV news because the vehicle has been Tboned at an intersection and is lying, ripped apart, next to the bodies of its passengers. Seldom have I seen such irresponsible advertising – and please don’t call me an old fart for saying that. People’s lives deserve more respect, especially from the public broadcaster. So you get an Onion.
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