Brilliant ad

[prog]

This is a brilliant ad, in both visual design and message.

Readers of Boing Boing or cnoocy will know the punchline already, but if you don't, take a look at this version that I've intentionally shrunk so that its smaller text is illegible.



We have:

Lonely looking guy wasting a perfectly good party-night in front of a computer

Stark, scratchy typeface labeling him as a basement-dwelling elf-pretender

Amber-colored smudge in the corner that's clearly the logo for the product being sold

So it's probably a beer ad, right? With the tiny text saying something along the lines of "Don't be a pathetic loser like this guy; get out, drink [Foo] and get laid", right?

Nope: full image link.

Not only is it simply clever, but any gamer who first encounters it (even in full-sized print, I'll wager) will initially assume it's a setup for a sarcastic attack on their lifestyle (whether or not they're MMORPG players per se) in order to sell its thing, and it ends up in a loving embrace. (In order to sell its thing.) Holy crap. Give its designers 10d20 GP.

Comments

[glowingwhispers.livejournal.com]

How tres cute! Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I needs to get me some role playing, and soon!

[karlvonl.livejournal.com]

You may have shrunk the text enough that the last line is illegible, but the D&D logo is recognizable to those of us who know it. Though I didn't *notice* it there until you pointed it out in your third bullet point.

[prog.livejournal.com]

It's true, and it's of course fully readable in print... put tucked into the upper-right like it is, it's still the last thing you'd notice when taking in the ad. You'd almost definitely read the text first. Like I said, it's great design work.