Sign of the Times : Street Photography and brands, by design or accident.

Sign of the Times : Street Photography and brands, by design or accident.

The semantics of the street, as any street photographer will tell you, is fascinating. Street names, graffiti, poster ads for coming attractions, no loading here signs, no parking there… the city is awash with many, many signs, symbols, brands, logos, slogans.

Copyright ⓒ Johnny Mobasher

Copyright ⓒ Johnny Mobasher

The Stars and Stripes of the United States of America and the Union Jack are common ‘brands’ on our streets – maybe reflecting the supposed ‘special relationship’ between the two nations or just the popularity of these particular iconic designs.

Here street photographers Johnny Mobasher and Yiannis Yiasaris record our penchant for showing our allegiance by riding a US flagged Harley or wearing a hat or jacket to show our commitment to the that all important flag.

Copyright ⓒ Yiannis Yiasaris

I was on the street in Glasgow. Buchanan Street, to be exact, thinking, and not missing the irony : ‘Why do the homeless always use Starbucks cups to collect donations from the public?’ It struck me that all the rough sleepers in Glasgow were maybe being given polystyrene Starbucks cups – regular issue – by the corporate coffee giant?

Queues might form on a Monday morning around the Starbucks logo…

No?

Okay, this is beginning to sound like a conspiracy theory and certainly not 100 per cent scientifically accurate, but the idea was irreversibly lodged in my mind nevertheless.

It was a lesson in how pervasive these brands, logos and slogans – Coffee That Inspires – are.

For many it may seem like a by-product of street photography. Out on the street looking for the candid, the humorous, juxtapositions, the ironic – street photographers, in taking shots, might by design or accident find branded produce in their photographs.

Copyright ⓒ Yiannis Yiasaris

In one piece of research on brand visibility by a company called Brandwatch, the Nike swoosh logo was the most penetrative.

Having gathered a staggering 40 million images from Twitter between January 1 and June 1 2020 the company compiled a list of those brands and logos that were most visible. The aforementioned Nike and Adidas were the leading two brands, while Apple, Coca Cola, Manchester United and McDonald’s all featured in the top 20 brands in terms of their visibility.

It is a feature of the city not missed by Yiannis Yiasaris Yiaris who also has a project dedicated to the distinctive red and white livery of Coca Cola as it appears in his street photography.

Copyright ⓒ Michele Liberti

Likewise, Michele Liberti who, in taking this wonderful shot of skateboarders, inadvertently captures the distinctive swoosh of the omnipresent Nike logo.

On the street we can’t escape. On top of a railway station roof (Central Station, Glasgow) a digital time-specific hoarding advertises cars before rolling onto movies and then fast food.

Street photographers are confronted by ads, brands and logos as they move around the city. We see them on the sides of taxis and buses, on posters at bus shelters, in shop windows. When we read our newspapers and magazines in Starbucks/Pret/Costa Coffee? We are confronted with a great tidal wave of ad images and text.

The Nike swoosh is iconic but so is the slogan Just Do It. Launched in 1988 those three words incorporated into an ongoing campaign proved to be an extremely powerful stroke of genius. The slogan, purportedly taken from the last words of an infamous prisoner about to be executed, increased Nike’s share in the North American sports shoe business from 18 to 43 per cent virtually overnight.

So, let me ask, in less than three seconds name a soft drink…what is the first one that jumps straight into your mind?

Copyright ⓒ Francesco Gioia

This is a great capture by Franceso Gioia, in attempting to stay dry the person in shot happily, and voluntarily and, perhaps, unbeknown to them, advertises the distinctive red and white of Coca Cola. We can even read part of the slogan from the ad on the newspaper the original taste… We can’t, of course, read the rest as the newspaper folds round, but it is enough for us to know even more about the soft drink and how innovative it is.

These images are all pervasive, and we are bombarded by them. Daily we see this imagery in newspapers, magazines, on the internet, on social media, on the street and while practising street photography. They feed into our psyche they become part of our being and street photographers often by design or accident capture corporate ads in their work.

Copyright ⓒ Sergio Burns

In the 1970’s it was estimated that each and every one of us saw between 500 to 1600 ads per day – which sounds a lot. In 2007 that number had leapt to 5000 while today estimates range from between an incredible 6000 to 10,000 ad images per day per person…

I was also staggered to discover that an estimated 100 million photographs are uploaded onto Instagram everyday. Can you imagine?

I mean how far would 100 million photographs reach? From London to New York? Twice around the world? How far would these photographs reach if we counted them everyday for a year? From here to the moon, from here to Mars? To Mars and beyond. To Mars and back? Who knows?

But they are there, everywhere we look, the guy wearing the Nike trainers, the woman with the Adidas track suit worn as a fashion accessory, the girl beneath the Superdry neon, The North Face Hoodie.

Copyright ⓒ Sergio Burns

Signs, symbols, images swamp us everywhere we go, even in football and sporting stadiums The Etihad, Manchester, The Emirates, London or the Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, Washington, USA.

We take photographs of scenes of everyday life in the street, little ironic vignettes or candid juxtapositions hoping to capture a moment, a look, a glance, a situation we think funny, sad or one which makes us curious – only to discover we have a brand, a logo, or some ad text in the photograph.

Copyright ⓒ Michele Liberti

A case of Things go better or just Enjoy…or… Just Do It…or…Refocus Your Attention?

**The ‘Sign Of The Times’ project**

I had a report on brand visibility come across my desk the other week from Brandwatch and I was intrigued. I did some quick research. Statista estimated that around $563.02 billion was spent on advertising in 2019. The corporate world does not spend that kind of cash for nothing.

It is something I have been acutely aware on the street. The blacked-out windows with Diesel written across them, the full panel Vodafone colours and logo directing customers to their new branch and all sorts of shopfront – Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero, Pret, Superdry, Primark, people wearing Burberry scarves, Nike trainers, Adidas track suits, North Face hoodies.

I wondered if any other street photographers had captured images which showed branded produce, either by accident or design, and started to talk to a few.

I wanted to curate – something I had never done before – a group of photographs that put everything into context and then write a piece on the subject.

Okay, so the next question is how does such images, slogans and logos actually influence us as sentient human beings? How does all that advertising, interplay with our judgements and choices? To be honest, that’s another question for another day…but the dosh spent on advertising should give us a clue.

I am indebted to some really great street photographers : Johnny Mobasher ; Yiannis Yiasaris ; Michele Liberti and Francesco Goioa, for their help with this project.

Read individual interviews of All photographers in Interview section