Politics + Advertising = Bad Idea

Brian and I went downtown today to meet a friend for lunch in Chinatown and because today was the Chinese New Years Parade and the last day of the Philadelphia Auto Show we decided to take the train down rather than drive and deal with parking and traffic.  Lunch was great and on our way home we went into the 11th  Street Market-Frankford El station to catch our train home. 

While walking along the platform I noticed an ad for the Philadelphia Sports Club.  Now, as some of you know, my first real job was not in IT.  I used to work for a market research company so I fully understand what goes into developing a an advertising concept, getting the concept approved, getting the creatives made, securing placements, and rolling out a campaign.  The lead time on some ads are months and months. 

This particular ad is one that should never have been approved.  Politics are too volatile a subject to base an advertising campaign upon in my opinion.  I’m guessing someone was playing the odds and that this campaign was created when Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani were the media’s picks as front runners.  It just goes to show how much can change in a relatively short time.

Photo taken February 10th, 2008