Seafish Ads

Bev Bev (again) Bob Jan Joe Liz

Pat Sue Tom Val Nothing (maybe)  

A Fishy Menu

When I came across this set of ads I was rather surprised. I had long learned to associate the use of manipulative artwork and semi-subliminal content with private companies. In particular with companies who tended to show little regard for their customers. Here we have a series of ads for a European funded agency.

I doubt whether the agency actually intentionally commissioned such artwork - but who know? These ads most likely seem to be the output of an aberrant artist or ad agency who found illustrating seafood meals rather boring and decided to spice them up a bit. The likelihood of the commissioning agency detecting the tomfoolery amongst the cod, prawns, whelks, scallops, mussels and assorted veg - especially when mixed in with a generous helping of wine - was extremely low.

Each ad focuses upon a named individual, normally not noted for being a great cook. However, with the aid of seafood, the world changes shape. Meet Bev, Bob and Jan, Joe, Liz, Pat, Sue and last, but not least, Tom, and their culinary creations.

Bev

Bev has a liking for spicy food. In other respects she is a bit of a traditionalist and likes her tacos peppered with the letters S and X.  

Bob & Jan

Jan is seemingly pretty conservative when it comes to incorporating semi-subliminal elements into her meal. Here one can discern without too much difficulty the letters S E and X among the slices of pepper. Note: don't expect each 'stroke' of each letter to be the same colour otherwise you will never discern the letters. Individuals who know they do badly on the Embedded Figures Test needn't bother trying to detect the letters.

Bob had different tastes. His meal emphasized the delights of swallowing prawns and other minor denizens of the deep. Look in the bottom right for a rather strange individual with a dark collar and a biscuit in his mouth. He is being overlooked by another, less, recognizable individual in the upper centre of the excerpt. Turn your head to the right and look at this veg. It seems to have long hair and a sharp featured face. Mother could be looking on. Artistic precedents might indicate that these figures were caricatures of some of the civil servants who commissioned the ads.

Joe

Not to be confused with Old Joe, of Camel cigarette notoriety, this Joe likes company when he eats. Look at the excerpts from his ad. A clean shaven face to the left and another bearded face (or with his hand to his mouth) to the right. These may be easier to recognize when they are separate into the isolated images to the right. The left hand side of the face to the left is in shadow (the right of the image) and similarly, the right hand side of the face on the right (the left of the image) is also in shadow.

Liz

   Liz likes her food

Pat

Pat is another individual who finds solace in good, especially when it has lettering embedded in it. 

Sue

Sue likes here fish surprise but she would probably get even more of a surprise if she noted the crusty sex embedded in her meal. The S and the E stand out quite clearly in the smaller except, taken from the bottom left of the larger excerpt on the left.

Tom

Now't t'be seen

Now for a confession. In the following two ads I cannot find anything untoward - at least for the moment. Either I'm overlooking something, or else the creative types who produced these ads had run out of steam.

Another explanation may simply be that these ads were produced by someone who wasn't familiar with notions of embedding imagery in ads.