A Weekend Away from Advertising...or not.

I took a trip to South Florida last weekend (kind of like a small weekend getaway). To save some cash - being the broke college student that I am - I took the long way around across Alligator Alley. In any case, the extra long trip gave me a while to really enjoy the drive, and the large amount of advertising along the way. I never really realized how well this class has helped me to understand, and appreciate, advertising. From numerous Geico "googly-eyed money stacks" to Cracker Barrel's "Homestyle Cooking Next Exit" billboards, I really came to an understanding as to why certain advertisements are the way they are, particularly after reading Whipple (I spent a couple of hours enjoying the weather outside while reading Whipple)

Saturday night I opted to go to the movies. Not being too inspired to see Avatar (I'm not much of a guy for sci-fi), I instead opted to see "The Blind Side" which I hadn't really been too keen to see up until now. Movie was excellent, but the advertising seemed just as interesting. As Whipple says, no one really appreciates advertising in the theatre. You're there to watch a movie and conduct movie-ish business, not be interrupted by Sprint and the "Now Network." But for once, I took the time to mentally dissect these advertisements, and its surprising to me how clear and clean cut they are. They follow the textbook style down to the dotted I's and crossed T's.

I thought I could spend a weekend away from Advertising, Whipple, and Creative Strategy, but apparently, advertising is like your own personal stalker. It follows you everywhere.