It wasn't too long ago that rumours had Coca Cola planning to advertise on the moon. Today I think the company of choice for the lunar marketing theorists is Google. They can probably afford it and I imagine that they've got the relevant maps to ensure that the pieces of the advert all go in the correct positions. It would certainly make for an interesting few evenings as the moon waxes and wanes; we would get to see "ogle" after a week and then "Goo" a couple of weeks after that. Ah, the inherent humour in celestial advertising.
These rumours aside, it's no surprise that you get the impression that they're running out of original places to advertise down here. You can't walk a hundred yards without the sun being eclipsed by a billboard or a Foxtons Mini running you down (yes, they have them here too). Just last month a squadron of planes (sponsored by Geico) flew round and round the island skytyping adverts into the blue in what can only be called a "cloud font".
I don't appear to be able to go through a website at the moment without a voice congratulating me on 'winning' a new iPhone. Incidentally, if anyone wants one I've won, like, 40 so far. Google and Yahoo! are just two companies that intelligently track the sites you visit and products you view in order to provide targeted advertising relevant to your tastes. Shocked? I can almost hear George Orwell applauding in his grave.And there's no escape at home. A "half-hour" TV show is actually only 22 minutes in duration in order that we get 8 minutes of commercial conditioning. Even the closed captioning (subtitles) are "brought to you by...". What's next? Seeing-eye dogs being enticed into stores with wafts of chopped liver? [copyright ummit sethi, 2007]
I know all of this is a part of everyday life now, particularly in a big city. So it's all the more reason that when I want 'to get away from it all' for an afternoon I should be allowed to do just that. What better place than the beach? It's a regular favourite with the locals and hardly surprising since New York is close to some remarkably beautiful stretches of coastline out on Long Island and across in New Jersey. Protected dunes, conservation areas, beautiful small seaside villages, not an advert in site.
11.00 - arrive beach
11.10 - lie on beach
11.12 - propeller plane flies over beach pulling advert for Coors Lite Beer.
11.14 - 3 propeller planes fly over advertising Die Hard 4. Fortunately the famous tagline, "Yippee ki yay motherf---" appears to have been printed on a banner that was 5 letters too short for the job.
11.16 - propeller plane flies over pulling advert for breast enhancement surgery...I kid you not. Want a perfect rack? Call Dr Rac-anelli.
I know all of this is a part of everyday life now, particularly in a big city. So it's all the more reason that when I want 'to get away from it all' for an afternoon I should be allowed to do just that. What better place than the beach? It's a regular favourite with the locals and hardly surprising since New York is close to some remarkably beautiful stretches of coastline out on Long Island and across in New Jersey. Protected dunes, conservation areas, beautiful small seaside villages, not an advert in site.
11.00 - arrive beach
11.10 - lie on beach
11.12 - propeller plane flies over beach pulling advert for Coors Lite Beer.
11.14 - 3 propeller planes fly over advertising Die Hard 4. Fortunately the famous tagline, "Yippee ki yay motherf---" appears to have been printed on a banner that was 5 letters too short for the job.
11.16 - propeller plane flies over pulling advert for breast enhancement surgery...I kid you not. Want a perfect rack? Call Dr Rac-anelli.
...and on it went. By 6pm I was so brainwashed that I was sitting in a cinema drinking cans of lager while adjusting the bra on my new set of D-cups.
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