Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 September 2005 18:40:07
Most advertising in local newspapers is, let's face it, pretty naff. However last week Whitefriars the new shopping development had a v.good one, which I'm on the search for in glossy format because it so sums up part of the secularisation argument and so would be so good in our base room at work.
The advert itself was a a list of popular chain store names then in brackets (and other places of worship) above a picture of The Cathedral . It really was so effective because it shows that shopping is now the new activity of many & arguably materialism the new religion as a number of secularisation theorists (such as sociologists like Steve Bruce would argue). It is a simple advert that is also really effective because we can all understand it.
Now you can argue the toss about if this move to more consumerism is a good thing or not, and no prizes for guessing which side I would come down on if pushed, but I want to take it from a different angle (slightly).
Maggi has an interesting article called space in the city. In my experience although you can't get the space to lie down in the city she is advocating the nearest places I know to what she is advocating are coffee shops where you can sit with a book in a corner as long as you have a cup of tea in front of you (Ottakas comes first locally, followed by Starbucks). In my list of places to get lost in the city for free, without too much hassell and just chill M&S and Qube (a shoe chain) probably come next. The Cathedral comes quite a long way down, because it is not free.
So today as I wandered round town, just to try and avoid the office for a couple of hours (I am trying really hard to keep to this part time thing and not go over hours) I did the shops, I did the library but I did not do the cathedral.