--== Upside of "Wouldn't You Rather Be At Home?" (was Packard Bell commercial) ==--

[Sean Dreilinger]

Wow! What a service Packard Bell just did for us!

>>      Let Packard Bell know about this outrage by emailing them at:
>"Piranha pool of a mediascape"?  "Outrage"?  Perspective check, anyone?

Here's a perspective (from one who has just viewed the 3MB ad-in-question)

I think an ad like Packard Bell's "Wouldn't You Rather Be At Home?"
actually *supports* librarians who make information available over the
Internet and WWW (i.e. everyone reading this list).

Libraries serving information on the web make the slogan 'libraries without
walls' a reality, and give manufacturers like Packard Bell fuel for their
marketing and sales folk--"Go ahead and buy one, you and your kids can
access the library."

Such an _benefits_ the library, if we respond by reminding our user
community that the 'library is a service, not a building,' and that library
users who have access to computers at work, school, and home can enjoy (XYZ
info services from us) _just like the PACKARD BELL commercial_.

Why not turn this into an opportunity: approach Packard Bell and ask if
they'd like to sponsor a "Wouldn't You Rather Be At Home?" campaign in
public libraries? Let them give away computers and net access to libraries
and library users. They're already extending their slogan all over physical
billboards.

Of ~50 camera shots in the ad depicting the urban hell, about 10 are set in
the nightmare library. Other scenes contributing to the urban hell include
a cobwebby bank, people migrating through urban wasteland, and lots of
standing in line. It uses image ideas from the depression era photography
(breadlines and sad tired faces) and film ideas (Bladerunner's urban hell,
Wizard of Oz black and white blooming into color) and book ideas (1984,
anyone?) and reminds me of the influential Apple Computer advertisement
that ran during the Olympics years ago.

If you need to scope out the ad, see
<http://www.packardbell.com/ads96/television.html>

--Sean :-)


                                          Sean Dreilinger, MLIS
        PGP Public Key - http://www.kensho.com/sean/pubring.htm
  sean at kensho.com - 619.514.3939 - http://www.kensho.com/~sean/
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