Tuesday, August 23, 2011

More commercial landscapes

Stumbling randomly onto real estate landscapes and edible landscapes I have become sensitized to commercial use of landscape motifs and their (not so) hidden meanings. Two recent finds:


When shopping at the C1000 supermarket you can save for a 10 euro Happy Fuel Card from Total. Notice the beautiful shopping cart in the standard Dutch landscape. I need not explain the irony using pure nature (without highways and modern technology) to market car fuel. This is pure, brutal marketing, but relatively honest.


Le Couvent des Minimes is a brand of "natural" cosmetics. According to the brochure it is based on recipes of Franciscan Sisters who have a long tradition (since 1862) of care and wellness using natural plants.
Some of the ingredients are: rose oil, grapeseed oil, mimosa, chamomile, rosemary, verbena, calendula, marsmallow, mint, lemon, sage, nettle, bur, lavender and violet. Indeed a nice collection of medieval medicinal plants. 1% of sales is donated to charitable works in India.
  • A quick search on the internet shows that this place is now a Hotel and Spa where a room costs 300 to 500 euros. The Franciscan Sisters (Francis of Paola not Francis of Assisi) have been expelled long ago, during the French revolution.

A well spun marketing story!

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