I spotted a Photoshop contest that looked like fun, so I thought I’d have a go at it (with a Skwibbish twist, of course.) You can see the results to the right. (Original ad here. Synopsis of THE ROAD here. [wiki]
In the original contest, the idea was to take modern products and display them in a vintage advertising light. (You could reverse that too, but boring.) So, find some vintage ads, and then insert a product from a fictional future — it can be from a book, movie, TV, etc. The only proviso is that it has to have been written by someone else, so none of your own bizarre fictional futures. It doesn’t have to be as grim as THE ROAD, by the way. If you’re more of an optimistic Star Trek kind of person, then I’m happy to see Oil of Olay ads featuring Warf, or ear-hair trimming systems endorsed by Quark.
The Rules:
- create your masterpiece
- post it to your blog
- link to this post (or let me know where it is via email)
- wait for the aplomb and/or ridicule of your peers.
What, pray tell is the prize? Well, if you win, you can choose from:
- a prominent walk-on role in my next novel
- a copy of THE AMADEUS NET
- a “mystery” item from within the bowels of my desk.
The second-place winner will choose from the remaining prizes, and the bronze winner gets whatever is left. Worth playing for? The contest will run until (Sunday, April 20).
For more information, you can check out the original contest here. I’ll post a few more ads like THE ROAD baby food in the next week. I fully expect most of the wackaloons at humor-blogs.com to enjoy this one, but just to be sure, I’m going to tag a number of them, just to get the word out. Note this is not a meme. There are prizes, so that makes it a contest, so I don’t want any sword-wielding, hobbit-torturing, cubicle ghosts coming after me. Let the tagging begin, in no particular order: Bagel, Chelle, The Frogster, Brent, Rickey, Diesel, Don, Lobo, Quelqoth, Ellison, Rachel, Jon, Hurty, Alenja, Fiar, Bob, Mr. Snitch!. Finally, thanks to exnovo for the original baby food ad.
Tags: advertising, contest, humorous, photoshop, satire, vintage ads, vintage ads of the fictional future
11 comments
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April 5, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Qelqoth
Please…no more tags, lol. I don’t want to go through all that again.
April 6, 2008 at 11:57 am
bagel
Ok, I’ll play.
April 6, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Mark A. Rayner
No worries Qulqoth, it was just an FYI. Woo-hoo Bagel!
April 7, 2008 at 6:25 am
Qelqoth
But I have returned the favour for you Mark.
The Skwib is now available Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_satirists_and_satires#Internet
April 7, 2008 at 2:40 pm
bagel
Seems my pingback didn’t come through.
Here.
April 7, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Mark A. Rayner
My server had a bit of a meltdown, so it probably had something to do with that.
Love the soma ad! m.
April 7, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Mister Snitch
“NOW WITH MORE BABY!”
That better not be Laughing Baby. Laughing Baby gives me gas.
April 9, 2008 at 7:37 am
Mark
I like the idea of this competition.
My entry, perhaps only the first depending on how inventive/stuck for a real post idea I am:
A Vintage Fictional Future
April 9, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Rickey Henderson
Holy hell, Rickey’s a tad late to the party, but if he’s reading this correctly, you mean to say that Rickey is responsible for doing something? Okey dokey then. Rickey will get right on it.
April 10, 2008 at 10:58 am
Mark A. Rayner
You’ve got lots of time Rickey! The deadline isn’t until April 20th.
April 20, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Christine Gio
Check out the beverage of the future of the past, Douglas Adam’s Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster!
http://spreaditon.wordpress.com/