Where portfolio students talk.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Death Wishes?



This M.A.D.D ad was done by Jordan T. Farkas of the School of Visual Arts. Thoughts on this simple and visually driven quick-hitter? Is this use of the grim reaper smart enough to pull off borrowed interest in a good way?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The reaper comes off as clever or entertaining. I don't think that's the right tone for the client.
In any case, wouldn't it make more sense to use the driver-side mirror?

-anon

B-Rock said...

Is this really considered borrowed interest? Does that mean Harley's new Black Sheep campaign is as well? It seems that there is such a fine line between borrowed interest and a social reference.

For me this ad doesn't for MADD. It's not specific enough for me. This could be an airbag, seatbelt, or goodyear tire ad. Also, I've never thought of the Reaper to have human hands. Gotta rock the bone hands in my opinion.

Other than that, I think the art direction is crispy and clean.

Anonymous said...

I'm not super crazy about this idea. I agree it doesn't make sense it's on the passenger side door instead of the driver's.
Are you saying you're missing death because you have a DD?

Secondly, I'm quite certain most people drive drunk at night, not during the afternoon.

Thirdly, The road looks like a super empty country road you take in the middle of nowhere. If you had been drinking, you're probably sober by the time you got all the way out here. Why isn't this in a city, or neighborhood, anywhere you could do some damage? That sounded morbid, but you know what I mean.

Also, I don't think death is borrowed interest Brock, because that figure has been around for centuries. It's not like you have a Teletubby back there run over and bleeding. But I do agree Death is used a lot in things today.

I'm not saying I think this is terrible, maybe if those fixes were made I'd like it better, but the idea of death waiting for you if you drunk drive seems very 1990's high school hallway put up the weeks before graduation poster.

C