Tuesday, 19 June 2012

What's This Guy So Happy About? - A Magazine Ad With a Typewriter In It.


The ad as it appears on page 61 of US GQ magazine, May 2012.






Yeah, I too can do the typewriter-and-wristwatch schtick. Just not as well as a team of photographers and stylists.




9 comments:

  1. Methinks the typewriter was chosen for its bluish-gray compliment to the Beetle's baby-blue-teal-thingamabob color. (Ya know, for an artist, you'd think I'd know my color names).

    So yer into vintage watches, eh, buddy? Ya know, that's a bug that's been biting at the nape of my neck, but I've resisted thus far. But one of these days...

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    1. Ohh, once you get bit by the watch bug, there's almost no turning back. I've been selling watches since 1999 (that's my job) and you'd think I'd be sick of them by now, but no.
      If you finally do succumb, stick with models from the '50s onwards. That was the Golden Age of Wristwatches, AFAIC. Anything earlier than that can be a little...uh...'leisurely' with regard to time-keeping accuracy. Unless you enjoy turning up to places three or four minutes late every day.

      And yeah, you're right. I too would say the typewriter was chosen for reasons of colour.

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  2. Love the detailed analysis! That typewriter is a Remington Streamliner (http://www.flickr.com/photos/knittergal/3549937132/).

    I agree with streamlinesdeluxe (funny coincidence, that), it was chosen because the baby blue color just about perfectly matches the Beetle's paint. Although that gets a bit lost in the scanned image, since the typewriter is a bit overexposed.

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  3. The typewriter instead of the usual notebook PC draws one's attention and the blues complement each other.

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  4. I agree with Adowa. And they would have been looking for a specific 'bight - light' colour palette'. I understand the market they are targeting this at, but I feel that it is far to contrived. It's almost uncomfortable. It just looks like 'Stand near this vintage and hold this vintage, and look like you're having fun'.

    Oh, and the shoes are ugly. Clarks. Far out... We were forced to wear Clarks in primary school.

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  5. .... maybe not these Clarks though.

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    1. I always wanted a pair of Bata Scouts with the compass in the heel when I was a kid. And I agree the photo is contrived. If I was carrying a typewriter like that, I'd be thinking; "I'm gonna drop this sucker any second. I should've grabbed the case."

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  6. Thanks for sharing this. It certainly does make you wonder -- which is maybe part of the advertising genius. It's just offbeat enough that it will make someone pause before flipping the page. To me the image says: I'm comfortable with who I am, I like picking out the things I'm going to wear and use whether they're old or new, and I don't mind being kind of a nerd -- nerdy is sexy. That's a message I can get behind!

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  7. I'm certainly feeling pretty awesome, right now; every bit as much as the guy in the ad. I am wearing Clarks shoes, looking out the office window at my convertible, and wishing I had brought one of my Remingtons to work with me. Life is good.

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