Mark Duffy, the crank behind copyranter, calls this “the dumbest ad I’ve ever seen.” (Actually, he tags it with a question mark, so there’s a little wiggle room there.) I don’t know about that. It’s had some awfully stiff competition this year, what with Dockers’ “I wear no pants” campaign and the DiGiorno spots about the idiots who try to blame muddy footprints on a non-existent delivery guy. But I’ll say this: This print ad for Samsonite, created by an ad agency in South Korea, is among the worst ads of the year, because it manages to combine in one package empty visual flash with total messaging incomprehensibility. The sheer accomplishment of it is beautiful, in a way.
You could argue, I guess, that any advertising which gets people talking about your product is good advertising, but I don’t buy it. The argument is maddeningly simplistic. It’s like saying “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” No? Just ask Phil Spector about that. In the meantime, enjoy the supreme badness of the Samsonite intramural hockey team taking to the ice with sticks made from roller bags.
PS: Duffy also hates Capri pants. So there’s that.