Clive Simpkins
Talk about tweaking the tiger’s, or is it the pussycat’s, tail? There were howls of protest from the advertising industry at my comments in the February 17 column Selling with a nudge and a wink, on phallic or sexist advertising, defending their use of it in order to “stand out in a crowd”. That, if they’d properly read the article, was precisely what I’d accused them of.
The interesting result is that women’s lobbyists phoned and applauded and NNTV wanted me to appear on a TV programme they’re now making about the issue. So much for self-congratulating creatives thinking they completely understand consumers’ minds.
Another trend highlighting the copycatting and frequently unsubtle me-tooing endemic in the SA ad industry is that of using different type faces and font sizes to break up headlines so our simple brains can’t read the copy all in one sweep. It creates a cognitive dissonance, causing one to go back and read the headline again — undoubtedly giving it greater impact than if one did just skim it.
One of the most striking examples of the technique is Berry Bush’s ad for the Graduate School of Management Technology. The Agency’s ad for Eskom’s Industrelek has an almost packaging label look, using seven different font sizes and types and five different colours — all in one headline. Even the Jupiter Drawing Room uses the technique in its ads for Business Day’s counter- campaign to The Star’s launching of a morning business supplement.
I suppose someone does the research, the rest piggy- back the trend and we have a surfeit of the technique. It’s a bit like power dressing: when everyone knows about it, as they surely do, it loses its impact.
The second follow-on relates to last week’s column (Sorry, rugby fans, but there’s no room at the inn) in which I noted our paucity of hotel rooms and infrastructure to host the Rugby World Cup, the Olympics and the like.
I was in Durban at the weekend. If ever you want to experience pandemonium and an utter inability to cope, try Durban airport at 17:00 on
a Sunday. The airport duty controller was actually breaking up logjams on the outward-bound baggage
Descending toward Egoli, it was a miffed captain who told us that, due to Johannesburg airport being “busy”, we had been given a long and convoluted descent path, guaranteeing a late arrival. This duly proved to be true. On landing, the Department of Civil Aviation or the Airports Company — let’s not incorrectly blame South African Airways — did not have mobile steps or an electrical supply at our docking bay opposite the terminal building. We waited, engines running. The captain suggested everyone sat down again, until a mobile generator was eventually plugged into the plane and we could disembark.
As for Johannesburg being busy, there wasn’t another aircraft landing or taking off and the telescopic terminal docking ramps were not even all in use.
Heaven help the next influx of tourists. The South African Broadcasting Corporation had to import an Ozzie to fix its ills. Maybe we need an ex-O’Hare or Heathrow traffic expert next.