Flat Eric puts Polar Bears in freezers.


I've noticed the use of Puppetry in advertising is experiencing a resurgence in recent months. Companies as big as SKY TV (the new blue monsters ad) and Barclays (The Steven Merchant ones) are taking to creative costume and rod puppetry to boost public opinion, after all, everyone loves a quirky idea. Whether it's because a celebrity voice over and a live/basic animation on screen is kinder to the recession rescinded advertising budgets is mere speculation, but never the less, it's a purposeful step away from the dancing car, and a move towards capitalizing on the charm of theatrical practices.

and just in case you don't quite believe me, here are a few examples:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/barclays-unveils-new-isa-ad-campaign/3011040.article

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsKWjO213EY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z35kfOLsSzo


There are even Guardian writers blogging about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/jul/14/puppets-adverts-string-em-up

As a outed and proud fan of 'Low Tech' forms of Visual Culture and Story Telling, especially Puppetry, I'm happy to see this continue, comforted somewhat by the knowledge that this means money is going into the humble Tech Artist's bank accounts rather than the flashy Hollywood world of CGI. How long the trend lasts however is yet to be seen. Puppetry, for example, having been around some few thousand years before the Christian Saviour himself, has its own prevailing power, but whether once fully exploited by heartless conglomerates will mean the genre incurring the kiss of death in the form of creative overkill is something I can only anticipate by watching that space.

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