After Thursday's San Francisco Symphony Brahms Festival concert, we noticed klieg lights in front of the Opera House next door. The ballet season ended a few days earlier and the summer opera season won't begin until the end of the month, so our curiosity was piqued.
It turned out to be a lavish company party for the 25th anniversary of the San Francisco advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (click here), and there was signage in the opera mezzanine featuring a greatest hits of their slogans, such as "It's Comcastic!" and "Fresh Mex." and "Welcome to the next level." and "Snack Strong." among other inanities that surround us incessantly.
What wins the prize for most seriously offensive signage seen in public (with only Adam Sadler's recent billboard as competition) is the tag line for their anniversary: "25 Years of Art Serving Capitalism." Our jaws dropped just before we vomited a little in our mouths.
The followers of the late author Ayn Rand, such as the retired Fed chief Alan Greenspan and wonderful ad agencies like GPS, should be held accountable for their considerable damage to humanity through mass consumerism via capitalism. To see it being openly celebrated really is noxious.
I agree with you plus, this post surely wins the prize for best title of the day, maybe the week.
ReplyDeletethose comcast ads are straight out of first year advertising school with their stupid-ass puns. I can't stand 'em.
ReplyDeleteAnd anyone who actively promotes Chevys in any form needs to have their head examined....Katy St. Clair at the Weekly had a pretty hilarious take on the banality of Chevys.
This post upsets me. Usually I'm able to filter this stuff out.
ReplyDeleteWe're supposed to read the signs.
You're right, we also must read the signage.
It signifies... something... not good.
Thanks for taking a shot at Greenspan and Rand. I also have to figure out how I can use the line "I just vomited a little in my mouth" in a play I'm starting to write called Milton Friedman in Hell.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is that he's stuck in the afterlife with Karl Marx as a roommate. Kind of Jean-Paul Sartre meets Neil Simon meets Dario Fo, if I can be anywhere near as funny as those last two guys.
What's with the NSFW subject line. I'm so busted.
ReplyDeleteDear Ced: I was just trying to translate "Art Serving Capitalism" and it was the best I could come up with.
ReplyDeleteAt least the lackeys of their capitalist masters are being honest, instead of using "Bringing communities together for 25 years" or some other bullshit.
ReplyDelete