In the last week, on my street alone, I’ve come across three interesting examples of advertisements featuring photobooth strips as an integral part of their message. Now, admittedly, I’m keeping my eye out for this, but it’s still a remarkable fact, proof that at least in the advertising world, the photobooth isn’t going anywhere.
The first example comes from a shop about a block away that sells everything from gourmet candy to housewares to high-end body products. Atop a tower holding Kiehl’s hair products, I spied a promotional pamphlet with four photobooth photos on the back. When I picked it up and looked at it, I found out that it held half a dozen cards inside, each with a different person modeling a different conditioner, mousse, or gel in a photobooth.
The second advertisement I spotted in Spin Magazine as I waited to get my hair cut a little further down the same street a few days later. An ad for Journeys, a clothing and shoe retailer, it showed a security tub full of a traveler’s possessions about to go through an airport x‑ray machine. Thrown in with some Adidas products and travel-related items was a strip of four black and white photobooth photos.
FInally. a more homegrown kind of ad: as I’ve walked out of my house to go to school every day this past week, I’ve spotted a handmade flyer for a show that happened in the area on September 24th. The Know-How, a Florida-based ska band (supported by a band with a simply great name, the Levar Burtones) use a strip of photobooth photos as the only image on the flyer, which is taped to a power pole on my street.
Kiehl’s, Journeys, and the Know How: great minds think alike?
I designed and posted that flyer, but credit has to go to Skyler and Alex of The Know How (pictured in the photo-strip) for obviously having a blast with the booth, then posting it on their myspace profile. I spotted the photos there, and I knew I had to use them. The photobooth is an icon for friendship and lighthearted fun.
Glad to hear from you, Steven — thanks for the background info. Please keep in touch and let us know if you incorporate any more photostrips into your work.