Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Ode to Can


Ode to Can.

There’s a four lettered word
As offensive as any
It holds back the few
Puts a stop to the many.

You can’t climb that mountain
You can’t cross the sea
You can’t become anything 
You want to be.

He can’t hit a century
They can’t find a cure.
She can’t think about leaving 
Or searching for more.

Because Can’t is a word 
With a habit of stopping
The ebb and the flow of ideas
It keeps dropping

Itself where we know
In our hearts it’s not needed
And saying “don’t go”
when we could have succeeded.

But those four little letters
That end with a T
They can change in an instant
When shortened to three.

We can take off the T
We can do it today
We can move forward not back
We can find our own way.

We can build we can run
We can follow the sun
We can push we can pull
We can say I’m someone

Who refuses to believe
That life can’t be better
With the removal of one
Insignificant letter.

Who else was intrigued by the bus shelters and billboards with the simple word 'CAN'T' over this past fortnight? I flew into Hobart on Thursday and noticed them plastered all over the Apple Isle as well. Too lazy to jump on my computer to look it up, I brainstormed with Bree to try and work out what it all meant.

It all made sense when Toni Collette appeared on our TV screen . . . and we were excited by her gorgeous little poem and 'storytime' approach.

But how disappointed I was to find out that this beautiful campaign and creative was for a BANK! Bree and I had guessed charities, kids' causes, Australian celebrations, arts and culture . . . but a BANK?!

What a waste of a brilliant idea! Hats off to M&C Saatchi for its creative genius, but I'm so disappointed it's been wasted on a bank.

Here's the full ad featuring the gorgeous (yet wasted) Toni Collette.


(And yes, I know what you're all going to say - it's done its job if people are talking about it . . . but I'm sure not switching banks because of it. Not after those horrific "determined to be different ads" with the bad American accents! I just would've loved it being used for good rather than a BANK!)


2 comments:

Lill said...

I totally agree. I watched it for the first time thinking "how clever, I wonder what charity got itself some amazing comms people...?" Then was belted with the rude shock.

I am with Comm Bank, and I feel like leaving!

Kate said...

Completely, Lill! They have more money than they know what to do with . . . oh how I dream of such an extravagant marketing budget!