shoot gerbils

[Viacheslav Volkov]

Что за фигня такая? shoot gerbils - Мысли где-то близко ходят. То ли забыл, то ли мне пока не попадалось.
Смысл разговора в том, что креативщики - по большому счету, все трепачи и только деньги бедут с заказчика. Вот контекст, специально даю широкий.

Thus, some creative people believe in "shock value." That is, get-ting attention at any price. Crude, Lewd. Lascivious. Push the enve-lope. It's all the same to them. Remember, these are the guys who thought paying $2.1 million to buy thirty seconds of time during the 2000 Super Bowl was a great stratagem. And who, only a few months earlier, thought shooting gerbils out of a cannon was really "creative" and would "get attention" and create "industry buzz." It did at the time, but do you remember who the advertiser was or the point of the "creative"? How far did this go in building a sustainable brand, one that engenders respect and commitment and most of all, a willingness to trade money for the brand offering?

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messages/324.html здесь тоже искал.
Много чего нашел, но рука не поднимается от разброда мыслей что-то дельное вставить.Что нейтивы могут своими словами объяснить, описательно?

[nephew]

а здесь смотрели: http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19981224S0004

пример рекламы, которая запоминается

[Viacheslav Volkov]

Где-то, как-то похоже.

[nephew]

То есть даже пример рекламы, которая слишком хорошо запоминается, все помнят про песчанок, но никто не помнит названия компании и чем она занимается

[kath]

is your question directed at the phrase 'shooting gerbils'?

gerbils are rodents, like mice or hamsters. the author is criticising ad people for creating pointless advertising. he sites 'shooting gerbils from cannonballs' as a shocking advertising act that completely missed the point (people remember the act but not the product it was adveritising).

also, there is a very strong association in america with gerbils and homosexuals. (gay men use gerbils for sexual pleasure). the imagery of shooting gerbils is almost a reverse of the imagery associated with gerbils and gay sex. (here, for example, a kind of black humour with gerbils from howard stern show - "twas the night before christmas at the hellfire club [a known s&m club in nyc], the gerbils were restless as they soaked in the tub...")

for these reasons ad people thought they were being "cutting edge" "pushing the envelope" etc. shocking imagery. and kind of funny, if you close your eyes on animal cruelty.

[Viacheslav Volkov]

Thanks Kath. You damn near spoke the language of the book. Exactly the same wording /here: "cutting edge", "pushing the envelope", and shocking imagery/
nephew. Thank you,too.
That's what I needed.

[kath]

glad to be of help.