Comments on: Bars on Every Corner

By: John

John — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:28:58 +0000

Squirrel: Yeah! Well, I’m less enthusiastic about it in one sense — I don’t like this twitchy OCD feeling. But I know what you’re saying; it is indeed like the Waldo books. Or, what was it, that kids’ magazine in the doctor’s offices… Highlights for Children. They had a regular feature — a detailed drawing of a park, say — in which you were instructed to find, say, a chicken, an umbrella, a soccer ball, and so on… all of them hidden in the drawing somehow, so you had to turn it on its side and upside-down to inspect it carefully enough.

marta: Bet you’re right about the ad’s creator. In The One-Minute Manager, the author talks about noticing that the best, most creative employees couldn’t wait to tell him about the latest cool things they were up to. Not in a boastful aren’t-I-great way, but more like excitement at having been present when the idea coalesced out of the ether (or wherever ideas come from).

By: marta

marta — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:24:33 +0000

I don’t think the ad makers were trying to make a subliminal message per se. I imagine someone creating an ad and the idea for those bars just came to them-the way these sort of things do and they thought, “Cool!” Whoever made it probably bugged her or his friends, “DId you see how I got those bars in there? Did ya?”

But I’m naive.

By: Querulous Squirrel

Querulous Squirrel — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:17:04 +0000

This is brilliant advertising. It actually makes you want to watch the commercial over and over to find the hidden bars in each shot. It’s like Where’s Waldo. Who can find the most bars. We’re each sure it’s us. Genius!

By: John

John — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:29:03 +0000

Jules: I should probably be (but strangely, am not) worried — if not flat-out becreeped — that I know the answer to that question.

Yes, Blake and his philanthropy are real. Here‘s a recent NY Times blog post about the whole thing.

I do admire the subtlety — or, uh, subliminality if you prefer — of the five-bars thing. Can’t STAND the Alltel guy’s commercials, though. Especially because Alltell seems to produce maybe one new one every five weeks or so, and play it relentlessly until the next one comes out.

Okay, I’ll stop obsessing now. (Not really.)

By: Jules

Jules — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:59:26 +0000

Wow. It always creeps me out to find out how hard advertisers work on subliminal messaging. Now I question: Is Blake, the chief shoe-giver at Tom’s Shoes, real? Was his philanthropy real? OF COURSE (hee) I might be gullible for falling for it in the first place.