Pony

4 May, 2009

by Sonia

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Okay, so I’ve been looking at these ads and I’ve been trying to articulate how I feel about them, and unfortunately I think that I just don’t like anything about them.

Admittedly I didn’t know anything about Pony shoes until I saw these advertisements and then I did a little ‘googling’ to help me out, so maybe it’s something in the shoes themselves that explain these advertisements that I’m not quite understanding. Then again, who should an advertisement speak to? Those who are already familiar with the brand or those (like me) who have never heard of them before. I guess that’s the fine line that all advertisers walk along.

Also, being a relatively conservative person, I always struggle with advertisements that are offensive for the sake of being offensive. It’s like watching television shows that throw in swear words every second word or so. It’s not art, it’s just offensive and my mother might be nearby and I would please like you to show some respect.

And so there’s this addition to this advertising line:

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Fred & Farid, the art directors behind the ad campaign, commented with regard to this installment:

“Black Jesus is the strongest statement we found for this “Hip-Hop” brand. It’s saying: “Why should God be always represented by a white guy?” In some ways, it’s a very politically correct ad. More shocking than this picture is the fact that most of the churches around the world still have only a white man as the representation of God. It’s also a reflection of the open-minded philosophy of the Brand. It’s even more fair considering the fact that most of the sports gods and hip-hop artists in the teenagers bedrooms are Black. This ad will run everywhere except in the US market. Some Americans are too puritans to be honest”.

So, I’m going to ignore the last couple of sentences in this comment largely because I don’t agree with it (from what little knowledge I have of the American market). I don’t know what to make of this statement- the advertisement and the comment. Obviously Jesus wasn’t ‘white’ he was from the Middle East (whether you believe in his divinity or not, this is an unavoidable truth), but he certainly wasn’t African American and I doubt he would have been caught dead in an expensive pair of gold sneakers. He’d probably have sold them and given the money to orphan children and then hugged Americans- regardless of their Puritanism or hip-hop allegiance.

I know that these ads are trying to make strong statements both for the foot and for the hip-hop culture, but to me it just seems to be trying to stir things up in a way that is non-sensical. I don’t think I want to buy these shoes, I can’t hip or hop and I most certainly do not want my mother anywhere near this store.
Developed at Goodby Silverstein, San Francisco, by creative director Rich Silverstein, art directors/copywriters Fred & Farid, agency producer Max Fallon, photographer Claude Shade. Fred & Farid, previously working with Marcel, Paris, are now at FFL (Fred Farid Lambert)