Visual Analysis -- Media Journal Concept Because

Visual Analysis -- Media Journal

Concept

Because the image is shown in black and white, I am attracted to the objects -- and the situation -- rather than color, fonts, or overall design. It is the message -- "escape now" -- conveyed by the scenario that grabs my attention. Perhaps that is because I find the idea so completely appealing. Who hasn't, on occasion, felt an immediate need to escape from work? This image takes that idea to its literal and logical conclusion. How do I get away -- out of my cubicle -- without anyone knowing? If I've any imagination at all, I can pull a Get Smart stunt. I can climb on the chair and pull myself up through that opening where the lousy ceiling tile has been flapping loose all week -- bugging me until I finally recognized the opportunity it presents.

Content

The ad is neatly congruent. Seat prices on Canadian Airlines are being advertised, with an obvious relationship to the "seat" of the desk chair that is now positioned on the table. The special prices for airline seats are in effect from April 19th through June 18th. The dates of the special fares roughly coincide with spring break or even the end of school term -- times when anyone could be caught up in a daydream at work. And if your spring fever needs a push over the edge, Thrifty Car Rental and the Westin and Sheraton Hotels and Resorts are all eager to reward you with Canadian Plus mileage points and special discounts. Just remember to give the travel agent the promotional code: SEAT. You want to go -- now!

This ad leaves the viewer with the sense that she has been left behind. The viewer is the one who comes into the small, barren office on some routine errand to find that the former occupant is somewhere else -- somewhere very much better than where the viewer is! A semi-crumpled piece of paper has been abandoned on the floor by the desk. The viewer can't quite make out what the paper is, but she assumes that it was the last article of paper retrieved from the in-box in a feeble attempt to get some work done. Perhaps it was thrown on the floor with resolute definition, or maybe it drifted from the hand that fell to her side when she leaned back to stare at the clock. No matter. There is plenty of work left in the in-box, and precariously stacked, it is about to cascade off onto the desk and floor. If an in-box falls in the cubicle and no one is there to hear it

It is not even a quarter past nine -- early in the day for the ticking of the bomb. The time bomb is heard only in your head. Tick. Tick. Times a wastin'. Tick. Tick. How do you want to spend the rest of your life? Tick. Tick. Who was it? -- Oh yes, Gauguin -- who ran away to Tahiti. Well, maybe you'll only go as far as Honolulu. Paradise for only $849 -- one-way would be even cheaper. Say goodbye to the cubicle. Maybe I'll bartend on the beach.

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