Tag: nostalgia

Lipsmackingthirstquenchingacetasting…

Talking about the dark ages of communications – I had a weird flashback moment to them this morning when I saw a piece about royal weddings in the paper,  illustrated with a picture from a Charles and Di street party in 1981.

There in the background was a Richard Shop – (a late and unlamented high street fashion chain, for younger readers.)

I could INSTANTLY remember all the words to the Richard Shop TV campaign – if you’re my age I bet you can too (google Richard Shops, there are pages and pages of sites devoted to it).  All together now:

Richard Shops are filled with all the pretty things/ soft and lovely pretty things to wear/  Hey there pretty face/ Make the world a prettier place/ Come pretty face/ Come buy your clothes at Richard Shops 

Thank God I was alone in the kitchen.  It led to a medley of classic 1970s/’80s advertising jingles which would have amazed and astounded my children, had they been there.

So, 2 questions:

  • Where the hell is this stuff stored?  Why can my memory  file and recall it so effectively, without being asked to, when so much else – the date of my next VAT return, for example – seems so much more elusive; and
  • Why don’t advertisers use songs like this in advertising any more?  They evidently imprint brand names on customers’ memories for decades.

I genuinely cannot remember a single recent ad for either Pepsi or Coke, but You Tubing the I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke song bought a nostalgic tear to my eye and, through the lump in my throat,  I could sing along with every word (and I really hate Coke) .

A pedant writes

I’ve been doing a lot of editing recently – it’s annual report season and the hills are alive with the sound of management-speak being committed to paper.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m very glad of the work.  And I do appreciate that great managers aren’t necessarily good writers too.  But in the interests of the English language and my own sanity, can I request that the person who wrote “we are fully committed to embedding and mainstreaming equality and diversity in all our management processes” is sent to the corner wearing a  very large dunce’s cap and left to contemplate the error of his ways (or her ways – I am, of course,  fully committed to…)

A pox on embedding and mainstreaming; on the random use of transparent, robust and sustainable to make simple things sound grander than they need to be; on  capturing learnings and sharing them at learning events; on the direction of travel and ongoing commitment and outcome focused engagement activity.

This whole editing process  reminds me of skills I used to take  pride in, which are now about as useful  as knowing how to ride a pennyfarthing or where to apply the leeches to cure dropsy. I used to be  able to lay out a page of newsprint, using a series of  mathematical formulae which told the printer exactly where and at what size to place the words and pictures.  I knew how to put together documents for print by cutting in alterations from a block of set type with a scalpel.  I could correct a proof using the right set of editor’s marks.  (Yes I know.  I’m older than God) .

Now editing and proofing is an entirely on-screen process which is infinitely easier and much less satisfying than it used to be.   Who knew you could feel nostalgic for the feel of printers’ proofs?