Washington Red Line Station, The Loop, Chicago
What bothers me about this ad for Something New (even though I heard the movie might be good):
1. At first it looks like the names of each actor are above their heads, but if you stand there and look at it for a while while waiting for the train, you realize that they’re not. I don’t know a lot of the actors in the movie, but Blair Underwood’s name not being above his head was my first tipoff. Then when I looked up the movie online I realized that the two stars of the movie, shown in the center, are actually the first two names listed on the top left. Somehow this doesn’t sit right with me.
2. There are 8 people pictured in the ad and there are 9 names. I went crazy trying to figure out who the extra name was but gave up when a bunch of them didn’t have their photos in IMDB and it became to hard.
3. The ad is supposed to look like a group shot, but it’s obvious from looking at it and looking at other ads online for the movie that they were photographed in groups of 2 or 3 or singly.
I don’t know why these things were grating on me so badly, but don’t get me started on the Dr. Phil ad next to it.
8 responses so far ↓
1 tien // Jan 31, 2006 at 12:25 pm
layout aside, the “star” usually gets top left name.
2 Billp // Jan 31, 2006 at 7:33 pm
What you don’t like about it… Isn’t the typeface or the layout. But, it’s the mere fact you probably feel like most white women. Like why is this guy with that black girl and not with me?
It’s actually a sublimital message and your actually over looking it thinking something else is wrong with the photo. The photo is geared toward a black audience. “What’s whitey doin with that fine black sugar plumb”.
Even you’ve said you rejected the ad..or what’s wrong with it? Chew on that a while.
Dr. Phil, needs to shave that mustache off… Just to be different for a change. Image, Dr. Phil without it… Talk about a photo out of wack!
3 keylime // Jan 31, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Hi, This is my first time posting. I’ve read your blog for a while now and liked every post. However, this one seems to make me feel a little something, uncomfortable maybe. Don’t know what it is, but the tone of what you wrote is unsettling and slightly you-know-what. What’s the real issue here? Ditto what Billp said. I’m just sayin’.
4 rachelle // Feb 1, 2006 at 8:31 am
you guys are way off base. i was commenting on the design of the billboard, not the content of the movie.
5 Mr. W // Feb 1, 2006 at 4:31 pm
As a white man I will have to say that Blair Underwood is definately not black.
6 P // Feb 2, 2006 at 9:32 am
Billp and keylime - you are both hypersensitive morons. Off a blog, there is no way you can make that kind of accusation of a woman you most likely have never met. If you read her blog, and see who she hangs out with, you’ll notice a mixture of black, white and asian.
The tones in both your postings are malicious and unwarranted. Chew on that one…
7 K-bot // Feb 2, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Yo- RachelleB definatley does not like white guys getting with black women especially in poorly designed ads.(Score: 5, Funny)
8 Jai Brinkofski // Feb 3, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Well, um… Rachelle… let me just say that, I never heard of the movie, and didn’t even look at the ad until after I read your post all the way through… um… I don’t know how people thought you had something against the movie. WILD!
And from a fellow designer’s perspective, I see what you’re getting at entirely. That’s offputting… the names on the wrong heads and all. yuk.
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