Now I don’t pretend to know everything about the rules of print advertising, but sometimes it is hard not to laugh at an advert. This leaflet found its way to a member of the Team Rubber staff, and I can’t help but raise a smile as I look at the outside. It appears to come from Hong Kong (judging by the postmark) which is unusual enough, but the content and design of this junk airmail is what really sets it apart.
The first thing I read is a summary of the dangers of ‘HIGHLY addictive video games’. These include:
‘Doesn’t eat right?’ and ‘You irritable all the time?’.
Flitting between tense, person and font size, it describes the effect of video games, ending up with the summary of
‘A dead end job, no education, and no dreams!!!’ (yes, three exclamation marks).
It then provides the answer to these problems; no, it’s not a good education, it’s not a new job website, it’s not even turning to scientology. Instead, a website is listed: www.R2hobbies.com. Intrigued, I open out the leaflet to discover more on how to change my life around for the better.
At this point, I am suddenly struck with the idea that maybe the advert is just very ‘in’ – neo punk or something? The designer knew the rules, they were just such a maverick renegade, that they didn’t care. They were Wolf from Gladiators, smashing the rules of design and grammar with their pugil stick, probably after the whistle. In fact that actually sounds quite good; maybe I am in the wrong?
With a new respect I open the leaflet, and enter Aladdin’s cave. The inside of the leaflet is equally as ‘innovative’. By putting all of the information in a variety of fonts, each of their own colour and reading in different directions, Wolf has made a journey of the page. It is not so much about taking in the information as it is the vibe. It is heavy distortion to the eyes. Minutes later, I am no more aware as to what R2 hobbies actually do, and I have a splitting headache. Maybe this was not as intentional as I previously thought.
I eventually regain my focus and find the text that is most important. R2 hobbies is a website that sells create-your-own model planes/trains/boats. This info was craftily (sorry) hidden around the outside of the paper, making it extremely difficult to read.
This isn’t a bad angle to take; trying to sell your hobby craft kits as alternatives to video games. However, the tone and design of the advert renders it almost completely useless. The insulting generalisations made about video gamers (the target customers) combined with the near total incomprehensibility of the information is enough to leave the reader unsure whether they should be offended or amused. However, saying that, I did still check the website, and am writing about it here, so maybe the Wolf was cleverer than I think.
