Calvin Klein’s Newest Ads: Suggestive QR Codes
by Shawn Ingram
Calvin Klein Jeans is known for having fairly racy billboard advertisements, or just racy ads in general. Last year the label debuted an ad in New York City depicting a two guys and a girl in a threesome, and a fourth undressing on the floor that was too suggestive for many people. {Shiny Style} This year it looks like the brand is trying to capitalize on that history while avoiding it at the same time.
To promote the Calvin Klein Jeans Fall 2010 line, the billboards are much simpler. There’s two billboards in New York City, and one in Los Angeles, all of which feature the same design. The ads have the words “Get It Uncensored,” with a large QR code below. The idea being that those who are walking by the ad (or those who see a picture of the ad) with smartphones will scan the code, and go the the website it points to. The website has a quick 40-second ad that is every bit as racy as the previous billboards (and seems to show a topless female model for about half a second). After viewing the video, viewers can send it to their friends on Facebook and Twitter, so even those without smartphones will be able to see the video. {Mashable}
The idea of showing racy ads isn’t exactly new - GoDaddy.com has been doing it for a while now. The fact that the ads use QR codes to even view them may be a bit unusual. In the US QR codes aren’t nearly as ubiquitous as they are in Japan where people have been using them for years. Not only that, but a vast majority of cell phones users still use feature phone rather than smartphones. It’s not unreasonable to think that fans of the Calvin Klein Jeans brand would be more likely to have smartphones than the average consumers though. Plus, the early adopters most likely to have an iPhone or Android phone are probably a good demographic, and points have to be given for creating a mobile campaign that gives passersby a reason to stop and share it.
SAQQARA, Egypt – Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area.
The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara.
"The colors of the false door are fresh as if it was painted yesterday," Karar told reporters.
Humidity had destroyed the sarcophagus of the father, Shendwas, while the tomb of the son, Khonsu, was robbed in antiquity, he said.
Also insribed on the father's false door was the name of Pepi II, whose 90-year reign is believed to be the longest of the pharaohs. The inscription dates the double tomb to the 6th dynasty, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Old Kingdom, also known as the age of pyramids.
Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the new finds were "the most distinguished tombs ever found from the Old Kingdom," because of their "amazing colors." He said the area, if excavated, could unveil the largest cemetery of ancient Egypt.
The paintings on the false doors identified Shendwas and Khonsu as royal scribes and "supervisors of the mission," meaning they were in charge of delegations overseeing the supply of materials used for pyramids construction.
A single shaft from the surface led down to the father's tomb, from which a side passage led to that of the son, with the false door with paintings of Khonsu in front of an offering table.
Hawass pointed to a handful of duck-shaped artifacts and a small obelisk made of limestone. Such obelisks were often buried with the dead in the 5th and 6th dynasties to show their veneration for the sun god, Ra. "These artifacts were found at the end of the burial shaft, at 18 meters (yards) depth, but we covered it up," Hawass told reporters.
Karar said that so far six tombs dating back to the end of the Old Kingdom have been unearthed since digging in the area three began three years ago. Work started on the double tomb five weeks ago.
The tombs lie just west of Saqqara's most famed pyramid, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, which is surrounded by a large burial ground, contain tombs from Egypt's earliest history up through Roman times.