Signs of the times

One of the curses of being a copywriter is the inability to walk by any sign - any words on any surface, really - without dissecting the word choice, the tone and the effectiveness of the message.

I suppose people that work in other industries have similar issues. Comedians overanalyze every joke they hear, English teachers can't help correcting poor grammar, and firemen probably can't walk by a fire without at least trying to put it out.

I figured that if I was going to be distracted by them, I might as well turn sign scoping into a true hobby. It's like birdwatching for lazy advertising types who rarely leave the city. And old signage has quickly become my favorite species to scope. If it's faded, antiquated, bizarrely-worded or peeling off the side of a building - all the better. 

I found this clash of ads in Belltown a few months back. The fading Du Pont Dacron 88 sleeping bag ad is probably from about 1970. The girl is one half of a current Stella Artois ad that's trying to look older than it is. I dig both of these ads - although I'm a lot more likely to go buy a six-pack of Stella right now than a 40-year old sleeping bag (I'm sure I could find one on Craigslist).