Animal Advertising
Gigantic Google is doing so well in many countries to grab advertising dollars from traditional media such as print classifieds and television, but it does not matter much in small Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. In our digital era, most people have heard of Google Adsense, a way for website publishers to display relevant Google ads on their website and make money.
Money makes the world go round…
There have been ongoing discussions in Cambodian newspaper, the Cambodia Daily, on running elephant advertising. This month issue of the Phnom Penh Post, the English-language newspaper, has the detail. “When Wat Phnom’s resident elephant, Sam Bo, takes her leisurely lope home on Sisowath Quay each evening, she is now adorned with a curious new accessory - a bright red sign that trumpets the logo of a riverfront restaurant,” Keith Hutson and Mandy Smith of the paper wrote.
La Croissette Restaurant and Bar owner pay the elephant owner about $1 per day, and offers the 46-year-old elephant with a steady stream of fruit snacks, in exchange for the placement of a square fabric advertisement. That is the deal. Whether or not it amuses Phnom Penhers and foreign visitors, it is yet a debatable issue. “But the new campaign - call it elephant advertising - is raising both eyebrows and ire from riverfront regulars. What some are applauding as a savvy marketing gimmick, others are calling a tasteless - though harmless - form of animal embarrassment,” the reporters continued curiously.
April 30th, 2006 at 16:09 pm
I’ve read the original article in the Daily and the the reader submission from the owner of “La Croisette”, the Restaurant that sponsors the elefant and I can’t see the Point of the debate.
Sure Animals in the wild don’t have advertising for fancy restaurants on them, but animals in the wild don’t carry around tourists for money ether.
Like it or not, the elefant is a domestic animal in SE Asia and as such it is used to perform certain tasks, advertising just beeing the newest of them.
May 3rd, 2006 at 19:58 pm
I have seen symbol of elephant head used in powerful logo. That’s interesting.
May 7th, 2006 at 10:15 am
And also:
http://jinja.apsara.org/blog/2006/05/sacred-profane-and-funky.htm