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In men's fashion, there's just something about getting the right man to display your clothing line. A century ago, there was the Arrow Man, a strappingly handsome fellow who modeled Arrow Shirts.
The models changed over the years, but the image remained long after the campaign ended in 1930 as the most successful ad campaign of its time, and ever since men's clothiers have sought out their Arrow Man.
The Weatherproof Garment Co. found theirs in the person of Barack Obama, and they found him in an AP photo taken when the president was visiting China. There he was, looking his handsomely rugged self wearing a Weatherproof overcoat against a backdrop of the Great Wall.
The folks at Weatherproof knew a good thing when they saw it and promptly secured rights to the photo. Last week they then put up a giant billboard of the president in their coat at 41st Street and Seventh Avenue in the heart of Times Square.
Times Square ads routinely generate buzz in New York's ad community, but the reaction to this billboard traveled well south as well, to Washington.
The White House was not pleased that an image of the president was featured on a Times Square billboard and told the folks at Weatherproof as much. Take it down, they said.
As one would expect in such matters, there was some back-and-forth legal jawboning, with the folks at Weatherproof arguing that the billboard was legal, protected by the First Amendment.
But did it really matter?
The debate is one that even while it rages you know it's not entirely for real.
Weatherproof was getting oodles of free media exposure, and it couldn't have asked for a better time to get it, at the very beginning of the year when there's just not much real news to report. The Weatherproof set-to was discussed in earnest on CNN and countless other media outlets.
Finally yesterday, Weatherproof agreed to take the ad down.
Of course there were final words. Freddie Stollmack, Weatherproof's president, told a Reuters reporter: "We made the commitment to the White House, and we are going to take it down even though it's a very gray area and we were advised by a lot of people to leave it up."
But these won't likely be the very final words. It's not clear when the ad will come down. Weatherproof first has to find another ad to put in its place.
