The image above is an ad for Target® and it was found on the back of a Northwest™ Airlines in-flight magazine.
It's a brilliant ad and I hate it, too.
It's brilliant because it captures a vibe so darned well - red, white, hip, fun, with-it. It's also a visual burr; dangit if it's extremely difficult to keep from looking at the thing. There are so many questions, unfinished stories in this ad, it's impossible not to wonder...
Who are these people?
Why do they need warehouse dollys?
Why are they running?
Why is there a pay-phone?
Good photography, excellent art-direction and amazing copy (he he).
It's brilliant! Really...and I'm not just stating that. This is a very, very good attention-getting ad. Target is fighting for the same customer as Wal-Mart. If it were your choice to identify with a Wal-Mart customer versus one of these hip, with-it Target customers, who would you choose?
Exactly.
But, the guy?
He's...well...well...well...well, judging by his legs, I figure he's not making much money as a male model - at least he's not spending his money on food. I'm wondering if he's got the muscular ooomph to push that cart very far at all.
And his "I-cut-my-hair-with-some-shards-of-glass-I-found" hairdo doesn't do the ad any good, either.
Oh well. Guys aren't this ad's target audience - women are. And this is the guy that Target chose as a good guy to put on an ad that targets women.
So. This is the guy.
THE guy.
This is the Target guy.
No muscle, no tone, bad hair.
Honey, I'm finally HIP!
