Design Federation

The Gruen Transfer seems to be going great guns, and it’s good to see Wil Anderson back on our beloved ABC dissecting the advertising we see. But a newish form of advertising that has caught my eye recently - or should I say almost blinded me - is the new animated/video Perimeter Advertising in certain sports. (epilepsy warning. Rapid animation scene below)

Thank god this isn’t so widespread in Australia yet, but watching the Rugby Union test the other night (Australia V Ireland), I was shocked to see it had made its way into the game they play in heaven.

I know this isn’t a new phenomenon, but I had only recently seen it on some warm up EURO 2008 football matches and thought holy fuck, what is going on there?!

If you haven’t had the displeasure of seeing these ads, basically they’re the same as the standard Perimeter Advertising, but animated. Not merely moving from one ad to the next, but with motion in each ad.

What it offers is essentially more bang for one’s buck, for both parties. The sponsors can display more and more information and flashing lights to draw your attention, and the teams/stadiums can charge more for the space.

The only problem is that it’s a FUCKING ABOMINATION!

Can you imagine anything more annoying if you are trying to watch or play sport?

Field sports are generally a fast paced pastime (even lawn bowls has its moments); people run or move quickly and you have to focus on the action - so imagine these fucking annoying clips playing at the side of the pitch throughout the whole match. It’s bad enough for the athletes having to put up with this rubbish, let alone us - the paying customers - who are forced to have their senses bombarded like torture at Guantanamo.

Most us just want to sit around with a beer and a few mates watching the footy. We don’t want to sit around watching ghastly advertising, but the way things are going it seems sport will soon become secondary and the ads will just play against themselves.

This is yet another element of the media we will need to learn to subconsciously block out.

- David Goldberg