Does this literacy campaign prove that nobody reads copy anymore?

This literacy campaign from DDB Paris is great from a creative point of view. I mean, who wouldn’t want to work on this? There’s nothing ad creatives like better than satirizing their own industry.

That said, I would bet that many more than 10% of the people who saw these ads in context would even try to read them. As a result of cultural shifts like photo/video microblogging and global multiculturalism, the written message appears to be on the decline. My son could operate a computer and a smartphone before he could read. Which is a good thing. But when he struggles with an assignment, he tells me that reading is overrated. I write for a living.

You’re not even reading this now, are you? I hear that long-form blogging is on the decline, too. Purple Monkey Dishwasher. Let’s continue looking at the cool ads. They’re about literacy.

Comments

Wow, these are so clever. But I think “Purple Monkey Dishwasher” was my favourite part of this post…. I read things compulsively, and sometimes to my detriment: often in an art gallery, I’m drawn to the card next to the work of art, because I want to read it. (Look at the art, dear.) If there is nothing else to read at, say, the breakfast table, I will read the cereal box - again. I like to read ads - except the ones on bus benches that say, “You just proved bus stop advertising works!”
Why are these ads about literacy in France, all in English?

Thanks for getting my old Simpson’s reference, Mary :)