Is this a new kind of spam? MP3 spam! An email I received overnight had no content apart from an MP3 audio file — which was a voice-synthesized announcement of whatever it was they were selling.
Look, mum, no hands!
This just has to be the classiest allusion to the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia ever, no?
This image is printed on the front of the Porsche 2400 Turbo hand dryer, as seen in the men’s toilet at the Cyprus Community Club here in Sydney. And it is truly beautiful, don’t you think?
The kangaroo holding out its paws to dry is such a subtle indication that (a) we’re looking at a hand dryer and (b) it’s made in Australia.
And the emu! Does it feel envious of the roo, unable to present hands at all? Or does it smirk in quiet self-satisfaction, happy in the knowledge that it has feathers?
Domain: misleading advertising?
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s over-blown real estate section (right) claims 1.2 million readers each week. That’s misleading, surely?
According to Fairfax’s own circulation figures, the Saturday SMH gets 1,176,000 readers from a circulation of 364,000.
OK, rounded to two significant figures, I’m cool with that. But I reckon putting that 1.2 million figure on the cover of Domain is misleading — in the Trade Practices Act sense of the word — ‘cos it implies that the real estate ads get that many readers. I really, really doubt that.
The first thing many (if not most) readers do is fillet the paper, throwing out the classifieds-filled supplements. And if you look in the bins at any suburban railway station on a weekday, you’ll see them chock full’o unopened, unread Domain, Drive, MyCareer and all the other crap they don’t need.
So, Fairfax, misleading advertising? What’s the real readership of the real estate ads?
Train is coming! Train is coming!
A beautiful piece of advertising from… somewhere in Europe, I assume. I can’t quite make out the language. If the embedded video (below) doesn’t work, try this link.
Thanks to Alex Willemyns for the pointer — and for having the extremely good sense to link to my piece on Blackle. I totally agree with your point about bandwagons, Alex.
Whitegoods
Do you remember when whitegoods were actually white, not shiny stainless steel? Perhaps you can even remember when they were enamelled green?
Word of the Moment: Greenwashing
I’ll just quote the source:
The term greenwashing applies when companies (or governments) spend more money or time advertising being green, than on investing in environmentally sound practices.
In business, greenwashing often means changing the name and/or label. Early warning signs that a product is probably toxic include images of trees, birds, or dew drops. If all three are on the box, the product will probably make your skin peel off in seconds…
Thanks to John Thackara at Doors of Perception, and to One Plus One Equals Three for the pointer.