Did any one else notice the news last week that Polaroid is about to stop making its instant film? You might think, well who gives a fuck, I can take really bad pictures with my phone, then download Britney's crotch shots, while listening to fucking rap ring tones... Well let me tell any of you fuckers out there under the age of ninety, there actually quite a few people who use it for special applications. There's an interesting piece in today's SilliconValley.com that might open your digitally clogged eyes. Anyway, whatever happened to all that "Long-tail" shit that was a big deal a few months ago? You know, were there will always be a market for niche products. Oh yeah... That's Web2.0 or some shit, Now we're on to Web 25.0... I'd better check in with Julie Roehm. 'Cos she knows all about that... Speaking of which... It's awfully quiet out there on the "Rock Star" scene. Anyone heard anything tasty recently?
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No... I didn't do it... It was before even my time... Yeah!!!
I thought I'd heard that Julie was consulintg in the porn industry now?
Posted by: tif | February 15, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Well considering that when I looked at a Polaroid camera I fell about in hysterics after seeing the cost per shot... not surprised
Posted by: Rob Mortimer | February 15, 2008 at 02:51 AM
There is an email of Julie telling her lover that Polaroid is WM proof. Until his wife found the shots...
Posted by: Jethro Tull | February 15, 2008 at 06:53 AM
Polaroid? I thought that was something you got when you sat on your arse too long. I guess getting film for your Brownie is out of the question, too. Seriously, I wouldn't count anything out. The LP was supposed to be killed by the 8-track, cassette, DAT, CD and digital download, and wax is coming back stronger than ever. Oh and steam cars, too.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | February 15, 2008 at 08:26 AM
Me, I'm sinking all my money into the printing press and laser disc.
Posted by: Matt McDermott | February 15, 2008 at 08:43 AM
well george, ill agree with you. its a fucking shame but not too surprising. maybe if they marketed the polaroid as a "digital camera with built in printer" they could sell the camera to a new generation...
Posted by: dude | February 15, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Sad.
The camera was the consolation prize on every quiz show in the 50s.
It also was the beneficiary of a lot of brilliant advertising from Doyle Dane Bernbach and a couple of other later agencies who tried a Heimlich maneuver and CPR on a dying product.
It also, in the end, was a one-hit wonder from Doctor. Land. But one that played its part for a half-century.
Posted by: Tom Messner | February 15, 2008 at 05:07 PM
Hey Tom... I should have a one-hit wonder that lasted so long and made so much money... I can't help thinking back to a guy I knew a long time ago by the name of Garry Dahl... The inventor of the "Pet Rock" An Art director in Silicon Valley who came up with the worlds dumbest idea.. Made millions, then blew it on things I shouldn't talk about, and now has a bar in Los Gatos...
Hey... But at least he had his ten minutes of fame. Plus money.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | February 15, 2008 at 08:13 PM
A great demo of good versus horrid advertising for a great product would be a side-by-side comparison between the ad illustrated above and the headline-less Polaroid ad/campaign done by Helmut Krone and Bill Casey.
The picture in that campaign, as someone once said, was the headline.
Posted by: Tom Messner | February 17, 2008 at 10:21 AM
It's the swinger, polaroid swinger.
It's more than a camera, it's almost alive.
It's only nineteen dollars and ninety five.
Pick it up.
Yeah, yeah.
Check it out.
Yeah yeah.
Posted by: Studio Maven | February 18, 2008 at 08:52 PM