Signs, Humor, & Play
In doing some research for my upcoming TEDx talk in October, I was looking for some good and humorous examples visual humor, especially signs. I came across the above duing one of those searches. I cannot tell you how much I love it. There’s so much going on in this sign that I am including it in my talk. And yes, I’ve been made aware that there is a grand debate in the world of TED on the usefulness, or lack thereof of images and slides. I guess I’ll have to risk it.
The first goal of any marketing campaign, or any bit of communication is to get your attention and then keep it. As I’ve said elsewhere, humor is a really easy way to not only get people’s attention, but also achieve memorability. If you want your message to live in someone’s head rent free, humor’s the way to go.
So why do I love this picture so much? Well because, as Shrek said of onions and ogres, it has layers: layers and layers of funny. I think one of the best parts of this picture is that it’s barely an advertisement. It’s not selling some deal or some new menu item. It’s simply a sign. It’s a sign that tells you there’s a McDonald’s nearby. At a pretty basic level, this is a sort of riff on the highway road signs you see while driving telling you what’s coming up on the next exit. But they play on the idea and what’s more than that, what’s better than that, they play off one another. There’s absolutely no need for the 197m sign, none whatsoever, except that it’s funny.
Another layer of funny comes from the fact that the second sign itself is completely superfluous. The useful information that any one might need is entirely contained in the first sign. The playful elements come from the second one and its referencing of the first. The passer-by has to recognize this fact and to “get” the joke. I wonder if there’s another sign somewhere down the route.
Whoever came up with the idea of this pairing was and is pretty clever. The signs take advantage of a common feature in some cities, the roll down garage or storefront cover. Instead of just putting one sign up, which certainly would have cost less, they put up two. The designer is inviting the passer-by to enter into a play space. To laugh with them at this silly little play. This invitation to play, this entirely “useless” second sign is such a welcome change from your typical advertisements. It’s not doing everything it can to get you to remember that Tuesdays are free french fries day, or anything like that. The second sign is a warm and clever smile inviting you to enjoy the goofiness you see there, to appreciate and savor it. That’s why this is such a well done piece of advertising and humor. If more advertisements could do this, they’d find themselves a whole lot more effective.