13 May 2007

Vox pop

In the past month, I've been reading a lot of Veller's musings regarding the rapid deterioration of the Russian language, so a more-blunt-than-usual sign [this normally includes shining examples of grammatical errors in advertisements by corporate giants such as Adobe or Global!] of the same process in the already-simplified-as-fuck English and in an advertising format earned a deserved smirk.

And a raised eyebrow.

Of course.

Of course!

As I walked past the Royal Ontario Museum last week, I noted a considerably sized poster for the current Ancient Peru Unearthed: Golden Treasures of a Lost Civilization exhibition. Its creators deemed it necessary to promote this renowned institution to the proverbial younger crowd with a single word. Bold, easily legible, light-colored font against a dark background - much larger than the rest of the advertising copy and more noticeable than the faded image of a token Peruvian gold artifact - the poster's typographic hierarchy could've earned a first-year graphic design student a solid A.

Its marketing strategy, however - not so much.

What lone verbal signifier could possibly transfer the exhibition's cultural significance and simultaneously entice those little hungry young brains?

Bling, of course!

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