The MGM Grand Casino has started a firestorm of backlash from a local minister who sees only Satan in this new "teaser" billboard off the Lodge Freeway in downtown Detroit.
The Rev. James A. Smith is mounting a campaign to have the sign removed, stating that it looked like a demon and was scaring the children. Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, poo-pooed the whole demon angle and stated that the company was "excited to hear the ad is generating some buzz".
And then her head did a complete 360 while she projectile-vomited pea green soup.
I don't really get the billboard's tie-in with MGM. It seems like there would be a better way for the billboard to promote the casino than a huge pair of anonymous eyes on a black background. These eyes can be described as "dark and evil" and resemble a pair of snake eyes - which is a losing dice roll in craps. The subliminal marketing message seems to be...
"Come to our casino and crap out, you big loser!".
If I were in charge of this marketing campaign, I would want my billboard to project a message of HOPE to the commuters below. A message that promised them untold riches, all with little or no effort on their parts. Money for nothing! I would want the message to appeal the lowest common denominator in folks and "set the hook" so that they would believe that "Yes we can"! I would falsely promise to the penniless gamble-a-holic's that if they would continue to believe, then the casino would reward them with piles of cash! Money the casino would confiscate from other more successful gamblers and card sharks in order to give to them.
Of course my true efforts would be to remove as many folks from their money as possible and to get them to continue to throw good money after bad. My billboard will turn these commuters into willing supplicants as they sit on their behinds in my establishment and further empower me over their lives. Meanwhile, their fortunes circle the drain.
Hmmmm. What would this billboard look like?
When you think about it, that MGM poster really DOES reflect better the sneaky, backhanded, evil plans of THE ONE.
ReplyDeleteI'd say take the lion out of that top right hand corner and put in THE ONE's Pepsi logo...Perfect!
Okay, that's creepy. I would stick with the eyes one
ReplyDelete"The Rev. James A. Smith is mounting a campaign to have the sign removed, stating that it looked like a demon..."
ReplyDeleteSomebody's got way too much time on his hands
Looks like Mystique of "X-Men" to me.
ReplyDeleteThe oddest billboard I ever saw in Detroit was back during the "USSR to Russia" transition. At one point, Gorbachev was imprisoned. After he was released, someone put up a "Welcome back Gorby" billboard in downtown Detroit, easily visible from the People Mover" to celebrate it.
Z- We've heard slot machines referred to as "one-armed bandits". Obama can be the two-armed bandit.
ReplyDeleteChuck- Didn't mean to creep you out. His followers would probably be comforted by that kind of billboard every few miles.
RK- Actually, the reverend is playing defense. Every coin that goes into the casino doesn't get into his collection plate.
dmarks- Gorby was worshipped as the left's peacemaker despite the warmonger Reagan, so this doesn't surprise me.