This ad is a prime example of design gone all wrong. This ad is in a deer hunting magazine so at first glance it does not stand out as super stupid. It is a person with a deer head in a deer magazine… no big deal.
Then, however, if the odd deer head catches your eye you stop. For a second you see a green Arctic Cat logo so it must be for Arctic Cat. But wait the largest product is a gun? When did Arctic Cat start selling guns? Oh no wait, there is a 4-wheeler in the ad. Doh that is what they are selling! Now I see the message in the the tiny hard to read headline with a white edge making it even harder to read. It says “Built to do what you’re built to do”.
Now I am really confused! “Built to do what you’re built to do”?? So I must be the deer headed person taking up half the ad, right? So then I am built like a deer to kill deer? Looks like Arctic Cat is saying you should hunt your own kind. But is that other hunters or deer then? Oh but wait, they want to sell me a 4-wheeler, remember! A 4-wheeler built like me who is built like a deer to hunt deer. But why does the 4-wheeler not have a deer head then? I mean if it is built like me and I have deer head. Wait would I have to hunt my 4-wheeler then because I have a gun and it is built like me to do what I do and I am a deer and I hunt deer? Fuck it all, now I don’t know what the hell I am doing!
So after my mind unwraps and settles I guess it just boils down to a shity ad with a shity picture trying to freak me out and get me to stop on the page. Well that mission is a success. Hell, I even blogged about it! I think someone just wanted to see a person with a deer head, then this crappy ad was tossed together around it? This ad does not however tell me why I want an Arctic Cat over any other pile of bolts with wheels? The whole message and imagery here is all flummoxed.
I am not the worlds greatest, and I do make mistakes but I guess I would have made the headline bigger and able to be read. Then maybe I would have had the 4-wheeler racing down a trail like a deer. Maybe a deer faded behind the 4-wheeler to help with the illusion of speed. You know then the 4-wheeler could look to be “built like me” which would be fast. Who am I kidding, that headline sucks as well and needs to be redone! At least at first glance I would see a 4-wheeler not a damn gun held by some sideshow freak. After all this ad is not supposed to be selling ATVs, I think?
