92. Ad of the Week. I think.

I have walked past this board everyday for the past three weeks. And because I'm an ad/design nerd, I've asked myself several questions: Do I like it only because it features a skull? Do I not like it because the designer didn't use the Economist font (a proprietary, Erik Spiekermann designed font family, I believe. Originally called Ecotype but now something like "The official Economist, you only wish you could buy it Font Family?") I think the Economist font would look more spine-like, though I recognize that it's easier to set a monospaced font vertically. Back to my questions: do I like it because it continues the economist tradition of very clean, quick (and red) communication? Do I not like it because it betrays that witty copy-driven tradition by going all vector-art on us? (Though they've gone visual many times before. View what is possibly my favorite ad of all time here.) Do I like it because of the clever way of using the magazine's masthead as the logo? Do I not like it because this also bucks their usual logotype sign-off? Do I like the headline or do I think it's a cliche? (The economist ads always walk a fine line between pun and clever word-play; most often on the good side.) Do I like it because it's almost impossible to ignore due to it's size and location? Do I not like it because someone felt the need to over-explain what they do with 'Insights on the world, weekly' which is only vaguely related to the 'having an opinion' thing? Ultimately, after three weeks, I think I have decided that I don't really like it – mainly because it could easily have been better. That's always frustrating to see. Or maybe I like it.