Well, there you go. It seems that the Morrisons supermarket chain is struggling to make a decent profit in the cut-throat world of big corporate supermaketing. Apparently they are in real danger of going under and are becoming desperate to keep the customers they have and win back those they’ve already lost.
So what have they done? They have hi-jacked one of Britain’s most famous sculptures – The Angel of the North – and projected a bloody bread advert across its 54 metre wings.
I’m not actually a fan of this particular piece of artwork. I find it clumsy and disproportionate and, quite frankly, ugly. However, it was placed there as a reminder that for 200 years miners worked in near-intolerable conditions under the ground in that area and many died doing so, and I would have thought that the teeniest, tiniest smidgeon of respect would have prevented anyone from using it in such a crass, self-serving, and quite frankly, highly intrusive way.
The more I think about it, the more offended I am by Morrisons’ actions. This advert, projected onto a public piece of artwork, is tasteless and does not show Morrisons in a good light at all. Far from winning customers back, it is a hair’s breadth from driving this particular customer away.
I spend a lot of my shopping budget in Morrisons. Not least because it’s one of our nearest supermarkets, it’s in a convenient locations, it has a big, free car park, it has a petrol station, and it sells a damn good selection of offal which is great for the dogs. I mean, where else am I going to get ox-heart conveniently ready-diced for me? Actually, they sell ox, pig, and lamb hearts, too, and a wide variety of kidneys and livers, ox tail and whole turkey legs. Doggie heaven.
But there are other sources – for instance, Waitrose sells whole ox kidneys, I can buy turkey legs in other supermarkets and Abel & Cole will deliver chicken carcases to my door. Ha! Take that, Morrisons meat counter!
I have to say that if I lived within sight of the Angel of the North, I’d be livid. I loathe the commercialisation of every little corner or blank space in our environment almost as much as I loathe the increasing amount of light pollution we are subjected to. So this baguette ad (which lights up the night for miles around, by the way) offends me in both ways. And what I want to know is this: who allowed it to go ahead?. Did they get planning permission? If not, why aren’t they being made to cease and desist, and if so, why aren’t the planning committee concerned being asked to explain themselves?
I guess that one of the motives behind the wince-making Angel of the North ad campaign is to get people talking. Well, OK, they’re talking. And I’m talking about boycotting them.
Disgusted of Peterborough