Someone deserves an ASME...

[elfs]

Whoever designed this cover deserves an f'ing ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) best cover award. Brilliant, immediate, provocative, and insightful all at once. Clear communication in a double-take. Kudos!

Comments

[blaisepascal]

Is there missing context? Was the left-half of the image ("Screwed") previously used on a story about rising unemployment?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

There's an ad campaign entitled "Choose the Way" from the United Way, one of the major private charities that runs and co-ordinates food banks and shelters for people down on their luck. The campaign features two copies of the same photograph, often of a wide-eyed waif, with the word "Homeless" on the left and "Secure" on the right, or "Hungry" and "Hopeful," or whatever.

By spoofing those ads with this picture, the Seattle Weekly instantly communicated (at least to me) that as unemployment insurance runs out, people are screwed and the safety net is not sufficient.

[whatthehay.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw this on a bus and didn't get it either. I didn't connect it to the kid's ad at all and wondered what the heck it meant.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I understand the concept, but not knowing who this person is or not having any other contextual background it really doesn't convey anything to me.