Thousands of internet start-up companies, as well as older institutionally commercial interests seeking to exploit the potential for expansion, looked to advertisers for new methods of marketing. The result of their dramatic investment and sought-after breakthroughs was a diverse array of techniques and styles, applied with hugely varying levels of sophistication.
One of the most interesting figures to emerge from this advertising boom was Samuel Harvey, creative director of Harvey and Timberland Media Sources. In 1999 Harvey created a think tank for advertising approaches which could penetrate as deeply as possible. In an interview with Advertising Agenda he said:
“…What most of them [unsuccessful advertisers] overlook is receptivity. In a supermarket, branding works because of the environment; bright, dreamy lighting, a little bit of Mozart muzak, smooth floors and fittings, and a lot of white to make the labels pop. All of that creates a very receptive mind state. An advert for jeans can be perfect, but unless the target sees others wearing those jeans, or better still, a famous actor or rock star, then the advert’s potency is minimized. The receptivity won’t be there.
“[On the concern that advertising is reaching over-saturation.]…the opposite is true, actually. The more advertising in public view, the more receptive targets become. If only a single advert sells a concept, then the target can easily go into negative [remain unconvinced of the advert’s message], but if a hundred adverts sell the same concept, then targets are far more likely to turn up positive. I think moving forward, the saturation of adverts will rely on a kind of inter-dependency, creating a good climate for positives. There will be a ‘culture’ of advertising. People are already getting there. People use the words ‘consume’, ‘content’, or ‘product’ frequently now. The semantic of advertising is already in people’s minds.
“With more branding, we can ask the question ‘which brand will you choose? Which identity do you want?’ rather than ‘will you buy or won’t you buy? Do you need this?’ and for the market in general that is a good thing.”
Advertising Agenda, July 2002
Harvey’s thoughts on receptivity and a ‘culture of advertising’ proved to be correct. Later studies have shown that in societies with more advertising the receptivity to their emotional messages increases (Yeovil, Thompson, Chaudrey, et al, 2007). After exposure to a continuous amount of adverts subjects in these studies were often more trusting, less opinionated, up to 64% more likely to believe a lie, and up to 31% more likely to perform acts which they had previously refused.
Harvey became a prominent figure within advertising in large part due to his unconventional campaigns and theories on receptivity in consumers. Although his campaigns were not consistently commercially lucrative, he gained a reputation for innovation. One of his most renowned campaigns (a commercial failure nonetheless) was an attempt to popularise a brand of mechanical skateboards. For this project, Harvey conceived of a ‘conspiracy-game’, which involved ambiguous codes and ciphers placed in major cities across three continents. A few remnants of these messages still exist at those locations today.
“It was a bit ambitious, wasn’t it? [Laughs] No. That campaign was actually very successful, in terms of penetration. People still visit the locations and discuss them online today. They’ve become kind of urban myths, and you’d be surprised what people say about them now.
[Interviewer] What do they say?
SH: Oh, you know, conspiracies. The Illuminati, the New World Order. [Pauses] The Pope! [Laughs] The problem with that campaign was that it took too long to generate interest. We had employees posting on the website anonymously, giving clues, pointing out the right directions, but by the time enough people had visited the sites and were starting to decipher it themselves the product had been over-exposed and was dead in the water.
[Interviewer] You came under a lot of criticism and ridicule for the campaign. Do you regret it?
SH: Not really, no. The aim was to create a brand out of nothing and that endured—which we did. The problem with it was how much time it took to catch. The internet wasn’t as ubiquitous as it was back then, but if someone were to attempt something like that today then I think it would be quite effective. [Pauses] The type of product it was didn’t help, it was a long-haul strategy for a product which needed to be a sensation. A mistake I hold my hands up to.
[Interviewer] Weird skateboards would never become a sensation.
SH: [Laughs] Neither should bottled water—but there you go.”
20 Men Who Can Read Your Mind, Squire Magazine; November 2006
Harvey’s later projects were more conventional, yet he continued to maintain a level of ambition that drew clients to his agency. Shortly before his death in December, 2007, Harvey requested some conceptual sketches based upon several insignias he had collected. Claude Packard, an up-and-coming designer at Harvey’s firm, was the person chosen to make them.
“There were six images to start with, five or six. Sam [Harvey] sent me a few more after a week or so. Usually ideas were thrown to three or four of the younger guys like me to see what we could do but these designs were given just to me. I didn’t think much of that. A lot of things were pretty different that last year.
“They were photos, mostly; one was a sketch by Sam himself. The photos showed objects that had the logos on them. That one [indicating the Sex-Man] I remember being a segment of a larger painting. This [indicating Flame-Man] I think was painted on a kind of rock. The long one [indicating Family-Man] was carved out of wood. Maybe on the side of a tree.
“Sam didn’t say much about them; only a brief criteria. ‘Retain the integrity and form of the insignias, but use colour, depth, filters, line variations and stuff like that to try and come up with something more immediate.’ Something along those lines. He sent me home to work on them, rather than at the agency.”
Although it is still unclear how Harvey discovered and collated the symbols, Packard’s elaboration on Harvey himself indicates it was likely he knew of their histories.
“[Harvey]...was a big collector of art and antiques. He always referenced history as a source of inspiration to the younger guys. He’d say ‘whatever you want to do has been done before, and done better—so do that instead’. The last year he really began pushing for us to use some weird references in the work. He was really big on magic back then, witches and spells and all that. I don’t think he believed it. He might have, I don’t know. I think really it was about finding things that had resonated with people in the past, and reapplying them now in a modern way for another purpose.”
Packard also gives an interesting account of Harvey’s mentality during the time before his death.
“It was a tough time. Tense. Not a good atmosphere to work in. We’d come in to work and there would be trashed desks, or they would be in the middle of arguing [referring to Harvey and his wife: Caroline King]. Sam was drinking a lot too, and only turned up for work, like, thirty percent of the time. But I think it was the divorce, mostly, that got to him.”
Following Harvey’s suicide Caroline King, having not yet finalised divorce settlements, took full control of the business, renaming it Mixed Sources and continuing Harvey’s work. Packard, having finished several concepts originating from the symbols, submitted the designs to her and continued working on the remaining.
Having taken on many of Harvey’s unfulfilled project contracts, and financial problems caused by tumultuous legal and divorce proceedings, King promptly commissioned two of Packard’s designs to a Chinese manufacturer for use in several products. The products which bore the logos included a low-end mp3 player, headphones, two models of hi-fi system and various computer peripherals.
After several months of abnormally high (but fluctuating) sales of the products, the manufacturer, along with others who had noticed the success, approached King for further designs.
Recognising the quality of the insignias Harvey had entrusted to Packard, he was assigned the task of completing concepts for the se
ven remaining logos which had not yet been introduced to the public.
Towards the end of 2008, the now-trademarked logos began appearing in various forms and with increasing veracity. Rather than commission the use of these logos for use by third-parties, King approached manufacturers in China and other parts of Asia with whom she initiated various partnerships. Through these partnerships, King began contracting products (which manufacturers were already producing) and branded them with the logos under her own product names.
The products included:
[Insert updated list of products here, perhaps with associated logo annotation]
During the past year (2009) these products have outsold the vast majority of their competitors, despite possessing higher price points and minimal advertising investment. The success of these brands is still increasing at an atypically rapid rate. In July of 2009, King even chose to change the Mixed Sources company logo to an approximation of the Joke-Man symbol.
Although I was unable to gain access to King, Packard is vocal in his concerns regarding this recent success, despite his significant contribution.
“[All’s fair]...in advertising, for sure. I’m the first guy to say ‘let’s play with taboos’ or ‘if we’re not allowed to do this, then that’s exactly what we need be doing’, but with those particular designs I’m not sure. I’m a bit conflicted. A few people have come to me now with worries; John (Dr. Hughton), Danny (Daniel Callahan, member of the Advertising Free Association), and now you.
“I mean, I’m in this industry because I love it, and because I want to do great things. Not everything that has an affect is great though. Design can be really bad actually. Look at the Nazis, without strong advertising they’re just a group of racists, and Germans are, in my experience, really nice.
“...Like I said before, I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough. These things could affect me just as much as some guy in the market for a new dishwasher.”
Indeed, there is small but growing concern towards advertising and its recently noticeable affects. Although often the targets and assumptions for these recent concerns are incorrect. In the following chapter I will show evidence of the recent negative influences to which these symbols are inextricably linked.
4.
Soon after the introduction to the market of the first consumer products bearing the symbols, they were adopted under numerous guises by others. Several variations (of the Sex-Man and Fear-Man in particular) became popular forms of graffiti tag, and can now be seen in thousands of locations across London alone. As an identifiable image for fly-posters, t-shirts, internet sites and sub-culture magazines the symbols are also becoming increasingly popular. Although much of this attention is presented as ironic and light-hearted, there is a concerted recognition for their social ubiquity.
Internet social groups have sprung up and continue to grow in size around the logos. Predominantly these groups are forums which cover a wide range of topics and activities. In these cases the logos act as a sort of ‘meme’ with which the group members identify and which draws members to the sites. A small sub-section of these sites, however, display a degree of exclusivity, and are actively engaged with discussing the logos themselves.
Although there is some knowledge of the logos’ origins amongst these more exclusive sites, the dominant perception is that their introduction to the public signifies something. The most frequent contributors to these sites advocate that the symbols do indeed possess a magical power, and that their recent emergence is either the result of magical manoeuvres, or a prelude to them. Most posters regularly post about their own experiences surrounding the symbols, and indeed, these anecdotes confirm previous suspicions arising from the histories of these symbols.
“[Referring to an attached image of the Anger-Man] This is what I painted on my bedroom wall last month :D and I’m not being funny when I say I really do feel a lot more confident and outgoing. B) It sounds funny but really can tell it protects me somehow. It makes me wonder how anyone denies that there is no proof of magic.
“...I even stood up to my boss last week which ended with me losing my job but whatever I needed a better job anyway...”
Aeris909, Ne05ign5.com; 12th April, 2009
“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself, dear boy. I never said I was ‘boss of this whole shit’ as you so politely put it, merely that I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been writing about Dervish [a term used in reference the Flame-Man and Lazy-Man symbols] since before this site even began. Who do you think scorched it into Elland Park? ;)”
TamperedMonkey, intothecircle.co.uk; 20th August, 2009
“It’s done! Mookie, ValeriaJuice, Jagstang and myself have just returned from a hit. We used Number 6 for this one [The site’s reference code for the Hunger-Man symbol] It went smooth as butter...
“Most of you already know the feeling, but right now I really know something special is going on here. We’re gonna change the world and I’m proud of my generation for the first time in my life. Sounds corny but that’s how I feel. Vive la revolucion!”
JonesyB, crashwave.com; 6th October, 2009
[The day after this last post it emerged a lorry carrying food goods was hijacked and driven across Birmingham leaving trails and stockpiles of food behind it. The vehicle was found crashed into a fast food restaurant with the Hunger-Man image painted in multiple places over it.]
Accounts of various activities induced, or done with regard to the symbols are written daily, many posters reciting them with pride and reverence. To what purpose the members of these sites perform these activities is still ambiguous. Whilst the fervour and events around these more private sites increases, theories and associations are still diverse and conflicting among their members.
Despite these conflicts, and an as yet unknown rationale, meetings have become commonplace with members. The gatherings take place under widely varying circumstances, from casual discussion meetings to violent and dramatic attacks or vandalism. The more serious of these gatherings take place with a sense of ritualistic purpose, many employing bizarre techniques to ensure solidarity. One group (which has been involved with several high-profile stunts) meets only at night in complete darkness, and engages in meditative humming in order to induce a state of sensory deprivation from all external influences but the symbols themselves.
The evolution of these groups from forum posters to gatherers, as well as the increasingly violent scale of their actions, is hugely worrying and potentially dangerous. So far I have covered only a few of the symbols (a full history and analysis of each form the second part of this book). In the final chapter of this part however, I will examine the most potent and hazardous of them – the Delete-Man. [Should I? I know I should. Shit. Don’t doubt. REMEMBER THE SYMBOLS MAKE YOU DOUBT. KEEP THIS NOTE TO REMEMBER. YOU HAVE TO WRITE THIS.]
5.
Contrary to the other symbols, the Delete-Man has had a relatively large amount written about it. Granted, the circulation of the symbol has always been extremely isolated; the name ‘Delete-Man’ gaining far more recognition than the symbol itself.
The first substantial reference to the Delete-Man can be found in a thesis by a young Danish student from the 20s called Frederic Jacobsen. Writing about the proposed properties of magick and its insignias, Jacobsen examined the possibility of an insignia bearing some kind of magical charge. In reference to this effect he mentions the Delete-Man as a negative proponent of this effect.
“In accordance with theories of spatial areas of effect, Magick manipulates different symbols, in a way that conjure a tax [sic] that resonate in the bodies present among them longer periods…
“…Charges are able to induce illness, mental impairment and even death. In the most severe cases, the icon used is that Delete-Man.”
Magickal Influences On and Within Physical Objects[Internet translation]; 1924
In his text, Jacobsen references the Wica’s uses of the Delete-Man, and there are many indications
that certain Wica used the term to describe symbols designed for extremely destructive goals. Despite their references, the symbol itself varied within the practice. In only one case is the symbol correctly depicted: A garment used to practice Wica that was found and documented by a practitioner of modern magick.
The garment fell into my possession during the autumn of 2004 via this practitioner. Shortly prior to my accommodating of the garment I had been exposed to the Family-Man symbol. My reaction to the Family-Man (which had been almost immediate, and which I was unaware of at the time) had been of a strong compulsion to reconcile with my previously distanced mother, as well as a renewed hatred of certain family members. I also developed an urge to become pregnant. (Previous cases involving the Family-Man also detail contradictory events regarding family. E.g.; Frank Hobhurst, a father of three who forbid his daughters to leave the house for eight years, whilst evicting his son and denying any relation with him throughout the 90s—events which occurred after he had had a tattoo of the image upon seeing it in a book.)
Delete-Man: A Psychological Thriller Page 20