Guerilla warfare
Friday, March 13, 2009 A last minute guest at Boisdale (see previous post) was Louis Blom, a graphic design student at Surrey University where he is preparing his final project. Louis emailed Forest on Tuesday:
"Being a smoker and having grown up around smokers, my decision was to highlight the effects in our society after the smoking ban was implemented. I found your website and organisation extremely helpful. You truly do cover everything that smoking restrictions are doing to our country.
"After a lot of research I have decided to create a street campaign that gives a voice back to the smokers who are being pushed further away every year. I was just wondering if your organisation has ever tried anything like a guerilla style information campaign, and if so if it was in any way effective?"
Who could ignore an email like that? Actually, I had no idea what a "guerilla style information campaign" was. So I asked. Louis replied:
"Guerilla advertising essentially is an alternative to the standard advertising that is plastered everywhere. It is promotional campaigns that use minimum cost and have maximum impact.
"For example, say a peanut butter company wanted to promote its new product. Rather than spend millions of pounds printing posters, they could send a man covered head to toe in peanut butter walking around, say, Oxford Street and they would get x100 more publicity and public interest.
"I was wondering if you would ever consider this style of awareness campaign in the future."
It's a thought. In the meantime, here's another example of guerilla marketing.
Reader Comments (4)
How about a guerilla marketing graphic like those ads that used to drive us smokers mad before the ban, of the fellow inside the cigaret, but this time he's standing outside a pub saying 'let me go indoors to smoke please its freezing out here'.
you could have a street art design of thousands of beermats (one for every pub closed down) forming the words 'smoking rooms please'
The government has guerilla adverts on the telly has anyone noticed the amount of governments adverts on the telly trying to make us all live a healthy lifestyle its getting more like vietnam then ever. We are slowly being brain washed into living a healthy lifestyle.
Pat -
You say:
"We are slowly being brain washed into living a healthy lifestyle..................."
And much else besides, it would seem.
Just think how habituated we are all becoming to the undoubted usefulness of the CCTV image in apprehending Heinous Criminals ("Do YOU recognise THIS man?").
And how many episodes of 'Spooks' would reach a successful conclusion without the million electronic eyes spying on ('protecting') the citizens of London ?
I make no mention of the multi-billion dollar INDUSTRY that is The Great Global Warming Scare - and all that THAT implies for our future freedoms. To judge by the recent twitterings of certain Celebrities and Royal Personages, the penny STILL hasn't dropped in some quarters there, either.
I wonder when The Government will start introducing travel controls ?
And when/if we ever arrive at the state (which many long for) of One-World Government (NOT as far-fetched as some would seem to think), WHERE shall we be able to run to ?
Back to the nursery with you, Children: it's cold outside - and Big Sister doesn't want you to catch a chill !
After all, SHE knows best................