Weird Ads of August

In the August 22/29 issue of Entertainment Weekly (the one with Harry Potter on the cover), there is not one but two ads in the back of the issue that brought me up short. First was this visually disturbing paean to beef:


They call this place "The land of lean beef," believe it or not. They also refer to it as a "beefscape." Seriously.

I can't imagine the creative team that came up with this concept. "Hey, I know! We'll shoot close-up photos of cooked pieces of meat so that they look like landscapes. That'll really sell some meat!" Somehow, a portrait of food as if it were a big, glistening (rocky?) desert strewn with unidentifiable color bits doesn't strike me as hunger-inducing.

A bit of quick research turned up this article, which tells me the campaign was done by the respected (if old-school) Leo Burnet agency. According to the article, "The new ads’ messages link beef with 'passion, protein and strength.' "

And get this:

“It’s cutting edge,” Nebraska Beef Council Executive Director Ann Marie Bosshamer of Amherst said last month when describing the 2008 ad campaign to Beef Council directors at a meeting in Kearney. “... There’s nothing like it out there.”

This is probably the only thing the Beef Council and I can agree on.

Then, a few pages later, I saw this ad:


In case you can't read it (you'll see a larger version if you click on the image), it reads:

Caw! Caw! That's how you say "Help, it's so painfully hot" when you're one of the SHRIVELED FALCON PEOPLE of the Cleveland Desert circa 3023 A.D.

Switch to energy-efficient CFLs and LEDs now and prevent far more disturbing changes down the line.

unscrewamerica.org

The contrast with the beef ad just about gave me whiplash.

First, I'm encouraged to eat lots of beef (each pound of which required 16 pounds of plant-based nutrition and used 2,500 gallons of water), and then I'm told if I don't use compact fluorescents, Cleveland will be a desert inhabited by post-Road-Warrior scarecrows. A fine moment, indeed, in the history of freedom of speech.

Now, I've read my share of post-apocalyptic fiction, but this ad struck me as a grotesque turn-off. Clearly, it's targeted at youthful readers, and I guess they have a high threshold for shock, but isn't it possible to play a bit too much to despair? Like, you know, my one little bit of effort can't possibly keep Cleveland from turning into a desert?

The website is pretty out there, too -- all Flash and animation, trying to be so cool it hurts. Although it's a softer sell than the print ads! I guess the site has gotten some discussion among the technorati for its animation... some people like it, some people hate it (like the commenter on StumbleUpon who said, "sorry, the design is cool, but functionally speaking, it's a mess. can i just get a freaking site map thats not an interactive cartoon?")

Me, I was mostly annoyed by it. It's like Yellow Submarine without the Beatles. And to top it off, there's not much substance there on the subject.

But I know very well that I am not its intended audience... since I'm somewhere around three decades off in the age department.