No one knows what the school year will be like, only it will be a disaster. It will involve some place in space and time where students try to absorb information and social skills through a screen or a private teacher or tutor forcing expressions of warmth and enthusiasm behind a mask and possibly a piece of Plexiglas. No matter what the exact setting is, everyone who is a child or cares about their children is sure to spend at least a little of the impending fall worrying about how many people will die as a result of politically motivated attempts to lead normal lives. school. Wow, we are safe in hell here.
This has not stopped major retailers from mounting their annual back-to-school campaigns more or less as usual. While many stay away from language, suggesting that school is a place where children physically go. back A sampling of websites on Tuesday, July 21 indicates that … well, let’s just say that department stores are having a hard time, too. Here, we evaluate your attempts.
objective
Wherever these children carry backpacks, we can say that they are excited because we can see the inside of their mouths, something rare in these masked times. What is also a little jarring is that there are no parents to lose their minds in this picture. Anyway, Target also has another image worth examining in its specific section on school supplies:
It seems that this girl is having a great time and, once again, she is not in the presence of an exhausted parent or teacher who is in the PPE at the top. The ad says the words distance education.
Degree: It seems that some copy of Before Times was slightly edited. I give this one a failure.
Walmart
We have a little more emotional precision here. Although there is a backpack, it is not attached to the child, which, if it keeps its expectations low and pleasant, is an acknowledgment of the situation. The boy is clearly sitting at home, so he points to that, too. His seat on the side of the sofa, the soles of his shoes digging into the cushions, is a new allusion to reality: things are precarious.
Degree: Pass warm.
Deposit office
Sure, this ad says “back to school,” but with one boy holding a computer with a Zoom classroom and another boy holding the word school scribbled on a blood-red note card … Office Depot understands what’s going on here pretty well.
Degree: Pass.
Pottery Barn Kids
How is it all about backpacks? Why are four children straightened less than 6 feet away? How is it that monstrosities with wheel-shaped handles can survive the pandemic?
Degree: NO.
Children’s place
The color palette that induces migraine, the refusal to use items like for and to, the enthusiasm for, in a moment of historical slime, POLOS! … The Children’s Place just doesn’t care how someone feels right now.
Degree: Come in, by sticking to your own convictions (selling things).
Kohl’s
Go back, log in, one or the other, depending on the day of the week, if you have a small cough, if someone in the community has recently died, great.
Degree: The playful paper plane just sets a weird tone here, I think. Fail.
Amazon
Amazon is doing one of its weird live streams to advertise school supplies (which, confusingly, include Alexas). Here’s a sample: “We don’t know exactly how school will be held and where school will be held for everyone as the school year approaches, but what we do know is that learning will be important. … We are going to connect you with all the good information you need in terms of what you need to build your virtual classroom, your classroom at home. “
Degree: I really hoped that the tech and cultural giant that would take over our lives would have genuine information to distribute on how to navigate this disaster, rather than “buy our spy products.” Now I realize that my expectations were too high. The failure here is mine.
Staples
This is simple and unobtrusive, and refers to the “next school year”. Yes, it is a school year; it is in the future; is happening. This is exact. “Everything to learn anywhere.” We are not talking about the reason why we will learn from “anywhere.” Learning from anywhere is ahead of us.
Degree: Everything is fine!!!!
Walgreens
Finally: masks. However, I mean, is this an ad for school supplies or Walgreens’ corporate asset? Is the teacher too close to that child? What is the case count and condition of ICU beds in your area? It doesn’t matter, who cares. This announcement achieves a rare feat by visually recognizing that the new school year will be a pandemic.
Degree: This is the only good announcement.
