Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Charting success

The Daily Mail copying the Guardian is something I never thought I'd see. Still, getting the Tube in to work this morning, there it was - as if it wasn't disturbing enough seeing three [middle-aged white men in suits] sitting in a row and all reading the Daily Mail, their papers all bore an advert for a brightly coloured poster available free with today's mail: a wall chart with drawings of British butterflies. Obviously this is a rip-off of the Grauniad's ongoing nature wall charts, which seem more aimed at "kidults" than real kids (drawings?! What, no 3D graphics or glow-in-the-dark? I smell a nostalgia fest). But even worse is the fact that the Mail has deliberately used a font that is either identical or at least very similar to the chunky Egyptian font that has come to characterise the new Berliner-format Guardian as well as its posters. Funny what things are considered worth replicating.

What's the most original place you've seen one of the Guardian's wall charts? I think my favourite so far has got to be the Freshwater Fish poster tacked up on the wall of my local chippie.

4 Comments:

At September 26, 2006 11:14 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The vital difference is that, as far as I'm aware, the Daily Mail is only doing BRITISH animals.

I fear the poor blameless immigrant grey squirrel may be airbrushed from history.

 
At September 26, 2006 12:34 pm, Blogger Lady M said...

Hah, yes I picked up on that too, actually. Typical Daily Mail! Didn't mention it in the blog, though, as I wasn't 100% sure if the Guardian had stuck to British animals in all of its posters.

Wouldn't worry to much about the fate of the grey squirrel - there are dozens of the little buggers in my backyard for a start, and doubtless everywhere else too. Anyone who's had their flowers decapitated by one isn't likely to forget them in a hurry...

 
At September 27, 2006 4:37 pm, Blogger Neville said...

As I recall, wasn't it that "The Independent" newspaper started this trend? "The Guardian merely copied it, so did the "Daily (Hate) Mail"...

 
At September 27, 2006 5:11 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did they Nev? I know the Indy's crazy for the free gifts, but I don't remember wall charts.

That said, I try to avoid the Indy, so I probably just missed them.

 

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