Friday, January 9, 2009
News "Feed the pig," or fear the pig?
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Is it just me, or is there something eerie about that "Feed the Pig" ad campaign? I totally appreciate the thriftiness message behind the spots from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, but the mascot scares the bejesus out of me. Allegedly known as Benjamin Bankes, he's merely meant to be a friendly representation of a piggybank. Instead, with his pink suit, his three-fingered, "hoofy" hands and that knowing smile, he looks more like a potential serial killer from the Island of Dr. Moreau. Plus, he apparently stalks people and shows up without warning:
He's not even a funny pig man, like the one Kramer thought he saw on "Seinfeld," but a scary one, like the cello-playing porcine humanoid in the "Mr. Krinkle" video from Primus or the hog-masked chainsaw killer in Motel Hell. Maybe the ads have a subliminal message that runs contrary to the stated one. Since Americans are being encouraged to spend as much as possible to resist the economic slump, maybe it's a good thing to be frightened of our piggy banks.
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Curt- You're spot on! The pig is not easily forgotten; indeed, the entire ad lingers like an unsettled dream. Of course, this is all intended by the advertisers. There's enough going on here to render the ad almost subversive. One could deconstruct it, frame by frame, to discover how nothing is left to chance, and no detail is overlooked. - Steve Here's a quote from (http://webserve.govst/edu/pa): Recognize that a 30-second spot TV ad is a synthesis, the end-product of a long, complex, composition process. Many specialists (writers, researchers, editors, psychologists, actors, artists, camera crews) may have spent months putting together the parts: every scene, every word, every image, every sound, every camera angle, every detail in the background. Ads targeted at kids (often using "cool" kids as the actors within the ad) are created by adults very specialized in their jobs.
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