Funny Stuff
Monday, May 07, 2007
This is old news, so I apologize to those who've heard this story six times already ...
The Oslo collective transport system comes out with a new ad campaign every once and awhile to remind / cajole / embarrass / harass people into buying their transport tickets. There's no turnstile system or anything, so everything is strictly on the honor system. Unless you run into a ticket controller, in which case it is a very-large-fine system.
The latest ad campaign is centered around the concept: You never know who could be a ticket controller. Which isn't exactly true, because, as my friend Simon used to say, if you see a young black woman and a middle-aged Pakistani man get on the train together, they're probably ticket controllers. Probably sounds politically incorrect, but Oslo is not the most well-integrated city. And once you've been controlled two or three times, you start to understand what he means.
The new campaign features these cartoon drawings of ticket controllers in silly situations: In one, a controller is dressed up like a dog at the end of his fellow controller's leash. In another, a controller is hiding in a baby carriage. In another, a controller is painted up to look like a statue.
But the mother of all ticket control posters, the one I think encompasses the whole spirit of the ticket-controlling endeavor, features a picture of an old man dressed up to go skiing. He has his skis standing straight up and down in front of him and is peeking between them in this creepy way. The slogan above him reads, "Sporebror ser deg."
To explain, Oslo Sporveier (Oslo track-ways, for lack of a better translation), is the name of the transport system "company," although company isn't the right word since it's publicly owned, but whatever. "Bror" means "brother." So "Sporebror" is a play on the word "Storebror" which is, you guessed it, Big Brother. Basically, they're saying "We're watching you" which is creepy enough without the intentional reference to 1984. Who willingly compares themselves to Big Brother? I mean, I know it's a joke, but it's not a very funny joke! I haven't heard about any Norwegian uproar about this, so obviously nobody else is getting the sinister (and absurd!) undertone that I am. I completely understand that public transport needs money to keep running, and I agree that people ought to buy tickets. But is this really the means we ought to be using to get people to do it? Yeesh!
I hope you enjoyed this little cultural snapshot. Just like old times, eh?
The Oslo collective transport system comes out with a new ad campaign every once and awhile to remind / cajole / embarrass / harass people into buying their transport tickets. There's no turnstile system or anything, so everything is strictly on the honor system. Unless you run into a ticket controller, in which case it is a very-large-fine system.
The latest ad campaign is centered around the concept: You never know who could be a ticket controller. Which isn't exactly true, because, as my friend Simon used to say, if you see a young black woman and a middle-aged Pakistani man get on the train together, they're probably ticket controllers. Probably sounds politically incorrect, but Oslo is not the most well-integrated city. And once you've been controlled two or three times, you start to understand what he means.
The new campaign features these cartoon drawings of ticket controllers in silly situations: In one, a controller is dressed up like a dog at the end of his fellow controller's leash. In another, a controller is hiding in a baby carriage. In another, a controller is painted up to look like a statue.
But the mother of all ticket control posters, the one I think encompasses the whole spirit of the ticket-controlling endeavor, features a picture of an old man dressed up to go skiing. He has his skis standing straight up and down in front of him and is peeking between them in this creepy way. The slogan above him reads, "Sporebror ser deg."
To explain, Oslo Sporveier (Oslo track-ways, for lack of a better translation), is the name of the transport system "company," although company isn't the right word since it's publicly owned, but whatever. "Bror" means "brother." So "Sporebror" is a play on the word "Storebror" which is, you guessed it, Big Brother. Basically, they're saying "We're watching you" which is creepy enough without the intentional reference to 1984. Who willingly compares themselves to Big Brother? I mean, I know it's a joke, but it's not a very funny joke! I haven't heard about any Norwegian uproar about this, so obviously nobody else is getting the sinister (and absurd!) undertone that I am. I completely understand that public transport needs money to keep running, and I agree that people ought to buy tickets. But is this really the means we ought to be using to get people to do it? Yeesh!
I hope you enjoyed this little cultural snapshot. Just like old times, eh?
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on Monday, May 07, 2007 at 5:41 AM.
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