The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists…never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little. – Banksy
Slow and self-obsessed? Way harsh, Banksy. I’m not going to chime in on that part of your quote. However, I do often think about the possible art the super bright, creative, and ambitious people in the IMA’s Design Studio would be creating if they had unlimited time and money and weren’t grinding out ads for me about Free General Admission (shameful plug). Of course, that’s not to say that great art is always created from pure passion without hopes of compensation, but haven’t artists mainly paid the bills by creating art for other people? I mean, I’m no art historian but a lot of great art was commissioned in some way, right? And while I understand Banksy’s criticism, today I’m going to point out a few examples of what I think are artistic advertisements.
The advertisement above is a general one for HBO’s programming. I’ve seen a few films in my day and have even been known to make distinctions between “films” and “movies.” Had the “short film” not ended with an HBO message, I could have easily believed this was some student’s art film project. Maybe HBO even hired an art film maker to produce this ad. Perfect use of music. Perfect use of voice-over. A subtle story twist. Nice.
AAF Addy Award - Best of Show 2008
The advertisement above is for Downy Wrinkle Releaser. Pretty funny. A clever artistic fold turned something as unremarkable as “wrinkle releaser” into something memorable and humorous. I like it and could definitely see it hanging on the wall up in the contemporary galleries.
AFF Addy Award - Special Judges Award 2008
The advertisement above, again utilizing some humor, is for pizza. Again, pretty funny. A clever combination of objects with a message you don’t normally associate with pizza sauce. Very nice. If it were in a gallery upstairs underneath a vitrine I wouldn’t have ever known it was an ad.
Banksy may not believe it (although I’m pretty sure he’s not as cynical in person as he is in print), but I’m convinced that bright, creative, and ambitious people aren’t necessarily wasting their time creating ads. As the examples above hopefully go to show, there can be art in advertising. If you have examples of your own, let me have them in the comments.
Filed under: Art, Current Events, Marketing
June 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
That HBO commercial is great.
I knew right away this was an ad, but I don’t care… the new Prius commercials are brilliant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq4nrmnqY9o
June 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Matt,
I counter your Prius with Insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0XPN6Z6ph4
A beautiful rendition of “This little light of mine.”
June 10th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Do you guys find it interesting that both of those car commercials seem to appeal to our generation by use of motifs found in Super Mario Bros? Namely, bright saturated colors in the case of the Prius and pixelated forms in the case of the Insight.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I hadn’t seen the Insight commercial. Makes me think of Lite-Brite…. though most of you are probably too young to remember. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soFXG2FaONw
June 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Ed,
I find it very interesting. What do you think the chances are that these ads were made by people in their late 20s and early 30s? I’d like to read/write a more in depth article about the influence of toys on today’s art/ad world.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Here’s the making of the Prius commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_M-WaCg27k
Neat!
June 11th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
The Prius commercial is truly amazing. Thanks for the link showing how they made it, Lindsey! I see something new everytime I watch it.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the awesome write up on my Downy piece. I really appreciate the kind words!
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