![]() Most of the READ ads are straightforward and wholesome - even Nic Cage exudes a fashion-catalog normality with his copy of Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. Most of all, however, one is struck by the knowing, devilish smile and look that he throws to the camera. This impression is only enhanced by the chair, far too small for a giant of basketball, as if to suggest that Shaq is reading next to you in a children’s library. The photographer seems to be playing with Shaq’s Olympian dimensions: His 7-foot-1 frame dominates the image although he’s seated. Unlike the others, it doesn’t provide much in the way of context clues or setting - where rugged Harrison Ford got to pose on some boulders and Alec Baldwin stood next to a river with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Shaq is in a liminal studio space fit for a yearbook portrait, which feels preposterously low-effort by comparison. Shaq’s poster stands out from the rest for any number of reasons. (I can’t imagine myself swayed, as a fourth-grader, by Paul Newman in character as pool hustler “Fast” Eddie Felson.) For that reason, ALA is always getting new famous faces on board with the campaign, and in the mid-1990s, it struck gold with NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal. Whether it inspired you to read would depend, of course, on your own proclivities and, most likely, how familiar you were with the celebrity pictured. Along with a familiar style of motivational poster, it formed the wallpaper of educational spaces. If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you probably remember the iconic “READ” design from your own school library and classrooms. American Library Association January 19, 2018 Get ready for #NationalLibraryWeek 2018 with a READ poster from #LibrariesTransform #Mist圜opeland /A0bnipjXBJ ![]() The Nicholas Cage poster for America’s Libraries where he posed with a copy of Hesse’s “Siddhartha.” /R6QBWotp9r The American Library Association is aware of this, which is why since 1985 they’ve produced a series of celebrity “READ” posters. The crisis of literary indifference leads to continuous think pieces, and sometimes even sequels to those pieces: Behold the New Yorker’s “ Why We Don’t Read, Revisited.” The explanations for our cultural aversion are vast and complex, but from a public relations standpoint, it may be fair to say that reading often wants for a better public image. A quarter of Americans will tell you they haven’t read a book - singular - in the past year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |