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Jacci's Desktop Publishing Blog

By Jacci Howard Bear, About.com Guide to Desktop Publishing since 1997

Selling George W. Bush to the Rest of the World

Tuesday May 13, 2008
No, this isn't a political blog. At creativebits there's a great post titled Portrayal of George W. Bush in international advertisements. The pictures of President Bush and his own words are used to sell newspapers, tape, bicycle helmets, television shows, board games, and vodka, and to publicize various animal rights and human rights issues. As some commenters point out, they aren't all necessarily well-designed ads. They rely more on the viewer's (presumed) dislike, even hatred, of Bush to get their point across. Interesting nonetheless.

Related:

Which of the Bush-inspired ads do you feel are most effective?

Comments

May 15, 2008 at 11:55 am
(1) Judy says:

I really disliked them! Please don’t insult me with “this is not politcal” message! If it isn’t, I’ll be looking forward the Obama’s what 57 states look like! Oh yes, he was tired–not stupid! If Pres Bush would slip and say 57 states, STUPID would be headlines and ofcourse we would find a way to mock him!

Unhappy reader

May 15, 2008 at 12:25 pm
(2) jacci says:

No insult intended and my post was not politically motivated in any way. I posted a pointer to the blog with the ads because I thought it was interesting the way companies/designers in other countries (if I’m not mistaken those ads don’t appear in US publications that I’ve ever seen) were using a well-known, and somewhat controversial person — in this case George W. Bush — to hawk products. I would imagine that they wouldn’t go over well at all in the U.S. (Edited to add:) That is, I don’t think they would go over well in general use for advertising. In political satire, editorials, and political cartoons we see that sort of thing a lot.

May 17, 2008 at 5:37 pm
(3) Misha says:

cool !! I liked a lot the bbc world news and the mattresses posters :) .. very interesting too - I’m sure he’ll remain a long time in the row of public figures which can be “advertisingly” exploited, with a negative(but the silly kind of negativism)shade of course

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