Comments on: What kind of black swan is a meerkat? http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/ Politics, brains, social action and the day to day life of the RSA’s chief executive Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:39:05 +0000 hourly 1 By: john http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/comment-page-1/#comment-5465 john Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:10:51 +0000 http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/?p=1961#comment-5465 mick foley formally from burnley stole the idea of the meerkat addverts (the first one through to the grub famine) from kendal copeland! he also stole, go compare.com all of the ones where the tenner is singing, all of the churchill addverts,all the animated 118-118 adds, bright dancing adds, all the aviva adds with paul whitehouse and around 70 others! mick foley formally from burnley stole the idea of the meerkat addverts (the first one through to the grub famine) from kendal copeland! he also stole, go compare.com all of the ones where the tenner is singing, all of the churchill addverts,all the animated 118-118 adds, bright dancing adds, all the aviva adds with paul whitehouse and around 70 others!

]]> By: Mark Shaw http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/comment-page-1/#comment-5311 Mark Shaw Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:00:26 +0000 http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/?p=1961#comment-5311 I came to this thread late when trying to find out why on earth VCCP decided that the Meerkats would be Russian. While a South African pronunciation would make some sense, ('market' and 'meerkat' sounding similar due to the lack of vowel sounds in South African languages), Russians would not pronounce it that way. Perhaps, having come up with the idea of meerkats and the South African mispronunciation, they then remembered the old Spittting Image song, "I've never met a nice South African.". Even in a post-Apartheid world, they may have decided that a South African accent would not be popular or endearing. I can't believe they were so ignorant that they didn't actually know where meerkats come from, and of course, the latest ad seeks to 'explain' this irritating anomaly. Regarding the Black Swan theory; it's a common argument of art 'experts', in cases of disputed attribution, that a lesser work cannot be that of any acknowledged genius of the past, because, (according to them), no true genius could ever produce a substandard work. Of course, this is a recursive argument, because the same 'experts' decide who is worthy of genius status in the first place, on the same presumption that all their work is of higher quality than their contemporaries. In the case of more recent 'geniuses' like Picasso, where an enormous body of work still exists, unfiltered by time, (a lot of which is of indifferent quality, or even downright poor), people will still buy anything, however bad, so long as the provenance is well established. They are secure in the knowledge that the market value, and social prestige attached to ownership, are independent of any artistic merit, or lack thereof. I came to this thread late when trying to find out why on earth VCCP decided that the Meerkats would be Russian. While a South African pronunciation would make some sense, (‘market’ and ‘meerkat’ sounding similar due to the lack of vowel sounds in South African languages), Russians would not pronounce it that way. Perhaps, having come up with the idea of meerkats and the South African mispronunciation, they then remembered the old Spittting Image song, “I’ve never met a nice South African.”. Even in a post-Apartheid world, they may have decided that a South African accent would not be popular or endearing. I can’t believe they were so ignorant that they didn’t actually know where meerkats come from, and of course, the latest ad seeks to ‘explain’ this irritating anomaly.
Regarding the Black Swan theory; it’s a common argument of art ‘experts’, in cases of disputed attribution, that a lesser work cannot be that of any acknowledged genius of the past, because, (according to them), no true genius could ever produce a substandard work. Of course, this is a recursive argument, because the same ‘experts’ decide who is worthy of genius status in the first place, on the same presumption that all their work is of higher quality than their contemporaries.
In the case of more recent ‘geniuses’ like Picasso, where an enormous body of work still exists, unfiltered by time, (a lot of which is of indifferent quality, or even downright poor), people will still buy anything, however bad, so long as the provenance is well established. They are secure in the knowledge that the market value, and social prestige attached to ownership, are independent of any artistic merit, or lack thereof.

]]> By: Matthew Cain http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/comment-page-1/#comment-3147 Matthew Cain Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:47:44 +0000 http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/?p=1961#comment-3147 Interesting report here which claims the slogan was thought up down the pub: http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-confirmed-compare-the-meerkat-was-devised-by-drunk-ad-men/ Interesting report here which claims the slogan was thought up down the pub:

http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-confirmed-compare-the-meerkat-was-devised-by-drunk-ad-men/

]]> By: The RSA - do you get it? : Matthew Taylor’s blog http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/comment-page-1/#comment-2364 The RSA - do you get it? : Matthew Taylor’s blog Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:28:29 +0000 http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/?p=1961#comment-2364 [...] and I very much doubt my idea will end up being chosen. Sadly, we can’t revert to the use of talking animals and a jingle but I’m keen to hear other [...] [...] and I very much doubt my idea will end up being chosen. Sadly, we can’t revert to the use of talking animals and a jingle but I’m keen to hear other [...]

]]> By: matthewtaylor http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/what-kind-of-black-swan-is-a-meerkat/comment-page-1/#comment-2264 matthewtaylor Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:53:15 +0000 http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/?p=1961#comment-2264 Thanks Adrian - know the feeling. Thanks Adrian – know the feeling.

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