City
Scooter Head: Guerilla Marketing Gone Horribly Right?
Looking at Vespa's new scooter head ads, which popped up at the intersection of Richmond St. W and Peter St., I can't help but laugh. It's the symbolism that gets me.
The posters are human sized cutouts with an image of your average downtown hipster. One exception, which you see above, is that their heads share a remarkable resemblance to the new Vespa S.
The symbolism that deserves a few chuckles is fairly simple. The idea that we can exchange our faces and minds with a product is pretty indicative of our culture. We are defined by the products we wear, ride/drive and live in. Our days are occupied with earning the funds to buy more products (maybe earning wasn't the right word). Our goals revolve around getting that next product and upping our neighbour or fitting into the community of people who happen to own the same thing.
This isn't to say that each person's contribution to the overall society is lessened or ignored, but let's face it, we're consumers. That's what our lives and jobs revolve around.
In the end, I think Vespa is just being honest about it. They want you to buy their product to further your personal identity. By buying one of their scooters, you become a scooter rider, even better to some, a Vespa rider. Now you're hip and cool and can wear clothes like the poster. Of course, you have to buy more products to complete your new image.
So what do you think about this ad? The trend toward guerilla marketing in general? Does advertising masquerading as street art work for you?
Photo by Jon Currie
Some more photos courtesy of Flickr pooler sjgardiner.
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The Vespa ads, however, are not. I've seen countless Vespa-headed hipster posters all over the city and connotations of over-consumption aside, they just look dumb.
It'd be interesting to see what he has to say about making the shift from covering billboard adverts with his art, to selling his art to advertisers.
While I see where your coming from here, you might want to back up this claim a little more. It's a broad generalization. I don't feel that my entire identity is made up of the products I buy.
"Our goals revolve around getting that next product and upping our neighbor or fitting into the community of people who happen to own the same thing."
This may apply to some, but definitely not all people.
I actually didn't know that it was a Vespa ad until you commented to that effect in the Morning Brew post. It was your comment in the MB that spurred this here post... so... thanks for the tip, I suppose.
No greater conspiracy here :)
A tangential point. From the replies to this post and assorted other ephemera floating like greasy pond scum in the local zeitgeist, it looks to be open season on "Hipsters". Before everyone in Toronto lowers their pants to take a collective holier-than-thou shit on hipsters, I'd like to remind y'all that it was only about 6 months ago this entire town looked like some weird alien civilization that got its hand on a back issue of Vice Magazine and took it as the Bible. But now, NO ONE was EVER a hipster - it was all those OTHER kids who slavishly followed ridiculous trends and who I'm free to sneer at, as I myself am too cool to EVER bother being well, erm...cool. Doublefucktard.
How are these points related?
We need to recognize that EVERYONE is affected by trends and advertising - That's why it's ever-so important that we recognize and fight for psychic autonomy and liberty of conciousness.
Trendy queen west guy, vespa, street art cutouts.
Speaking of holier than thou, hi Mr Black Sabbath.
My first thought, was cool, guerilla art styles, because I do indeed enjoy seeing this kind of thing around. But it quickly dawned on me that this was probably illegal advertising, which, not so cool. This was confirmed when I saw the same image in real ads and the Vespa showroom on colllege.
Since I saw them putting it up I've wanted to talk about it, but restrained myself... because isn't that the whole point of ads, even (especially) unorthodox methods like this?
By the way, from now on, will complaints about ads in the morning brew result in more exposure for the ads by means of a full post later in the day? :P
Not likely :)
This is an unique occurrence today. It involves a Toronto-based artist, the street art/advertising fusion, etc. Make it worth discussing, I think.
It's hardly hypocritical to like something like this when you think it's genuine, but change your mind when you find out it was calculated to make you think it's genuine while selling you a scooter. Imagine seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time, then your eye catches the Colgate logo in the corner and the feeling is gone.
I liked Vespa more before this. Now they feel dirty to me, like Pepsi or something.
Why has nobody commented on the fact that this post is poorly written and uses the same level of analysis that a 15 year old would use after reading three late-90s editions of Adbusters?
Because you're the first anonymous troll to feel compelled to make such a lame, insulting remark? Just a guess.
I have to admit the first time I saw it I just thought it was cool graffiti because it is on a building with other graffiti.
Then I realized the headset was the same as the new Vespa S.
It kind of freaks me out a bit.
Odd that this gets derrided so quickly, yet Apple seems to keep all it's "street cred" no matter how big they get, and how much their ads try to sell the brand = identity message.
Get over it. Whether you like these ads or not, it shouldn't have any impact on how you view Vespas (the product, not the company).
Also +1 for die-enormous's and Ry Tron's comments.
That crap is better than the LOLCATS!