What exactly does this say to the shopper?
posted at 7:34 pm on April 20, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
This afternoon, the First Mate and I decided to spend the afternoon at the Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the US and one of the few real tourist destinations in the Twin Cities. People fly here from Europe and Latin America just to shop in the MOA, and it has around a half-dozen souvenir shops promoting itself in over three miles of walking space. Locals like to say they don’t go there, but it’s almost always full year-round — and not too many people come to Minnesota in the winter for fun.
We mostly did some window shopping, buying a couple of items and eating dinner but for the most part we strolled — until we came to one particular display. A sportswear shop for young women had a window display so odd that I had to stop and take a picture with the cell phone:
I’ve done a lot of shopping at a lot of malls, and I’ve seen some fairly inventive window displays. Many displays only use the torsos of mannequins, sometimes just legs or arms, and some use just the head. What I’ve never seen is a mannequin with half its head. Take a look at this; it looks like someone took an axe and removed the top half of the skull. It reminded me a little of the demons from Constantine, a pretty good movie if you like your horror Catholic.
Why use half of a head rather than a whole one? Except for the cranium, the mannequins have all of the usual body parts. What is this supposed to say to a shopper — “Come here if you have no brain”? “We’re too cheap to buy wigs”? “Only an idiot would buy this outfit”?
Blowback
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LOL
those are some creepy lookin mannequins, an old show called nightstalker back in the 70′s had an episode where these things came to life and i have been scared of them every since lol
trailortrash on April 20, 2008 at 7:38 PM
It looks like they need to get some sun, preferably away from the wood chipper.
lorien1973 on April 20, 2008 at 7:38 PM
That could define creeping Sharia. Next time there could be no head at all.
Buy Danish on April 20, 2008 at 7:38 PM
Are they making bio-fuels out of what they made them out of? Perhaps they`re just dealing with higher prices for manufacturing. :)
ThePrez on April 20, 2008 at 7:38 PM
Getting a little, hmm, friendly with the plastic people are we, Ed?
lorien1973 on April 20, 2008 at 7:39 PM
No real opinion on it, but the one thing I noticed:
You know you’re a Gun Nut if you see “MOA” and think about the scope you want.
SA
scipioafricanus on April 20, 2008 at 7:39 PM
Reminds me of my favorite movies.
terryannonline on April 20, 2008 at 7:41 PM
I think you pegged it!
It’d take about 3 1/2 yards of fabric .. total cost about $15.. and about 2 hours to make that outfit and betcha it sold for over $50!
Texas Gal on April 20, 2008 at 7:42 PM
We cater to democraps?
Zorro on April 20, 2008 at 7:44 PM
The only horror movie I’ve seen in the last decade or so is The Grudge, in which the zombies are missing the jaw part of their skulls.
jgapinoy on April 20, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Maybe the point was to draw attention to some non-attention getting outfits.
After all, you did take a picture of it, post it on the Internet and now we are discussing it.
EJDolbow on April 20, 2008 at 7:51 PM
it’s just the new cool Ed
relax
windansea on April 20, 2008 at 7:54 PM
The half-headed mannequin is probably be an attempt to avoid the uncanny-valley.
The basic idea is that as mannequins, robots, and other human representations get more human-like we grow more fond of them…until they get too close, then they start to creep us out. As a representation enters the valley, we stop noticing all the cute things that make it look human and start noticing all the creepy things that make it un-human and freakish.
The second wall of the valley is the postulation that representations that are nearly indistinguishable from humans become comfortable and pleasant again.
This phenomenon is really interesting, imo, and is a serious consideration in robotics and video game development, in addition to marketing.
Nessuno on April 20, 2008 at 7:55 PM
These are Democratic mannequins. Didn’t you notice the “Vote for Obama” signs at the bottom of the display?
Bootleghooch on April 20, 2008 at 7:57 PM
Slow news day at HotAir.
jgapinoy on April 20, 2008 at 7:57 PM
I have to say the first thing I thought of was Constantine too.
Mr. Excitement on April 20, 2008 at 7:57 PM
I really am not a fan of horror movies, but I really liked Constantine.
4shoes on April 20, 2008 at 8:02 PM
I think they are supposed to represent blondes ;-)
conservnut on April 20, 2008 at 8:04 PM
I remember that!
My step-dad loved that show for the humor factor.
baldilocks on April 20, 2008 at 8:04 PM
“We mostly did some window shopping, . . . . . . — until we came to one particular display. . . . . . . a window display so odd that I had to stop and take a picture with the cell phone:”
The Advertisers did this, just to get you to do what you did. And yet everyone fears Rove.
You’ll return, eventually, and buy . . .
But if you had an MFA from Yale, you would have said this was Art, and very likely be immune, publicly because your tastes would be above the bourgeois, but in reality because you have no money.
Arbalest on April 20, 2008 at 8:09 PM
At the risk of sounding overly serious:
Those mannequins drew my eye to the merchandise. The half-head did not hold my eye the way a whole head would have. Nothing eerie here, just a better design, probably the result of some advertiser’s focus-grouping.
Brain soup, anyone?
philwynk on April 20, 2008 at 8:13 PM
CLEARLY these are Liberal mannequins! All MOUTH, no BRAINS!
Gatordoug on April 20, 2008 at 8:14 PM
“Women have no brains”?
Kasper Hauser on April 20, 2008 at 8:14 PM
Ed, you sure it wasn’t just a ‘half off’ sale?
ReubenJCogburn on April 20, 2008 at 8:14 PM
when I was studying abroad in Florence they had mannikins that had chicken heads for the chicks and wolf heads for the dudes. Kinda strange looking.
libertytexan on April 20, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Achmed the dead terrorist says:
CyberCipher on April 20, 2008 at 8:31 PM
Minnesota, eh? Isn’t that where Jesse Ventura was elected?
If so, it explains the missing upper half.
Weebork on April 20, 2008 at 8:37 PM
Why do I get the feeling that someone with an art scholarship designed it?
Limerick on April 20, 2008 at 8:42 PM
I’m going to throw out the more practical theory that it has something to do with the way they are packaged, or stored or transported/shipped.
ChenZhen on April 20, 2008 at 8:55 PM
Reminds me of Britney Spears’ last appearance on South Park…
redshirt on April 20, 2008 at 9:00 PM
With their barely feminine proportions, and bland outfits, it gives the mannequins a somewhat androgenous appearance. Not sure how that is supposed to appeal to female shoppers, but who knows.
As for Constantine, it was a very good movie in terms of religous tinted horror, not unlike the very underrated The Prophecy. Even though Keanu Reeves bares almost no resemblence to the comic book version of John Constantine.
postaldog on April 20, 2008 at 9:08 PM
No, it says “Buy these clothes if you like having a beer placed on your head while you are giving a blow j……”
Seven Percent Solution on April 20, 2008 at 9:13 PM
It may be a metaphor.
Anatomy of a Collapse
It was 1792, and Wall Street was enduring its first crash.
A speculation in government bonds had gone horribly wrong,
and a formerly wealthy and influential man named William
Duer was being chased through the streets of New York City.
In the end, he was lucky that the sheriff got him rather than the mob. As a result of his machinations, Steve Fraser reports in “Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace,” “real estate prices collapsed, credit dried up, house building stopped.” The decline spread from businessmen to shopkeepers, widows and orphans.
Does that sound familiar?
With the American financial system apparently threatened by paralysis after an era of easy credit that now seems ridiculous and venal at the same time, Wall Street may be about to endure another of its periodic brushes with public scorn and reprisal. Already we have seen the specter of failed executives being asked to explain to congressmen just why they deserved hundreds of millions of dollars for running their companies into the ground. And there are criminal investigations of mortgage lenders, some of whom are already bankrupt, for luring home buyers into taking out loans they could not hope to repay unless house prices continued to soar.
One of the most important aspects of the financial architecture that is now collapsing was the way it allowed investors to believe they could make perfectly safe investments when they financed very risky loans. Or, as Morris puts it, “Highly rated bonds magically materialize out of a witches’ soup of very smoky stuff.” He adds, “Very big, very complex, very opaque structures built on extremely rickety foundations are a recipe for collapse.”
It is one thing to be seen as venal but brilliant, and another to be seen as both greedy and stupid. That is the risk Wall Street now faces.
MB4 on April 20, 2008 at 9:14 PM
Get a life, folks. You are meant to focus on the duds. Greying out the face, or half face, helps you do that. It’s not a statement, political or otherwise, and does not impugn the morals or intelligence of the shopper. Sheeeesh!
johnlang on April 20, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Two words………… Business Cycle….
Seven Percent Solution on April 20, 2008 at 9:17 PM
What store is this? Either way, it was effective enough that Ed stopped, took a pic, and posted it on a popular weblog.
I’m in advertising…so I kinda figure this out.
So far, no one has gotten it…
JetBoy on April 20, 2008 at 9:19 PM
Four words………… It’s the economy, stupid.
Maybe five words.
MB4 on April 20, 2008 at 9:19 PM
Yeah, that whole Gansta Rap look selling in Sears and Macy’s went over real well………
Congratulations, I hope you enjoyed your bonus…….
Seven Percent Solution on April 20, 2008 at 9:23 PM
We only make clothes for brain dead anorexics?
funky chicken on April 20, 2008 at 9:24 PM
It succeeded on what it was meant to do. It made you stop and look at the display. It even got you to take a picture of it and post it on the internet for all to see. Free publicity! Whether anyone who sees it here will make a purchase in that store is probably close to nil, but you never know. Someone may forget about it, go to the Mall for whatever reason, see the display, remember this posting, then go into to the store in amused curiosity. Then it’s up to the store itself and its salespeople to make the sale. That’s also what it’s for for the people already at the Mall.
hadsil on April 20, 2008 at 9:28 PM
very slow news day.
redrock on April 20, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Oh for crying out loud it’s a message to girls that it’s their bod not their brain that is valued.
Murphy9 on April 20, 2008 at 9:30 PM
Can’t bleeve no one’s said it yet so I will:
“FREE your MIIIINNNND and the rest will follow!”
inviolet on April 20, 2008 at 9:35 PM
See now this is why I don’t watch horror, so frustratingly illogical. HOW can zombies munch brains w/ no jaws?
inviolet on April 20, 2008 at 9:38 PM
Loud and clear!
Wear the Burka,or Die!
Any other questions may be forwarded to the executioner,
at his leisure!
OR! Welcome Ladies,having down time before the convention
starts up.Special discounts for Liberal voting women!
And for those smart Liberal women,whip out your Sorro’s
affliation card and get an extra special discount!
canopfor on April 20, 2008 at 9:39 PM
“MB4 on April 20, 2008 at 9:19 PM”
Awwwwwww, come on MB4, you know better than that….
When the Democratic Congress will not let us drill for oil in our own country even though the price of gas is approaching $4.00/gal and the hoax of “Climate Change” has us burning food (corn) in the most inefficient ways, causing more polution and increased prices in food, along with the Democratic Congress forcing financial institutions to lend money to people illegally in this country and others, with no proof of income on unsecured loans, and you don’t think that might just have a little effect on the economy?
Just be glad that there are still Americans out there…..
Stupid?………. I am at awe that you didn’t cut and paste it……..
Seven Percent Solution on April 20, 2008 at 9:39 PM
Oh come on Ed. The economy is stagnating. Half a head costs less than a whole!
Seixon on April 20, 2008 at 9:46 PM
“It’s the economy, stupid.” That’s what James Carville said. It’s a classic. I thought “everyone” knew that. And it is how Bill Clinton won.
Republican have had the Presidency for 7 and 1/4 years and the congress for all but the last 1 and 1/4 years of the last how many?
Folks are going to blame the Republicans for the economy if they don’t start peddling pretty fast and McCain seems almost clueless.
MB4 on April 20, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Are two 1/2 heads better than one ?
redrock on April 20, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Mindless Consumerism.
Maquis on April 20, 2008 at 9:52 PM
I’ve got it, it means that is takes 3 Liberal buyers to
equal 1 Conservative buyer,that being a Woman!
canopfor on April 20, 2008 at 9:56 PM
Come now, Captain Ed…….
Don’t lose your head over it. :-)
(Here all night, folks.)
Hawkins1701 on April 20, 2008 at 10:01 PM
How can the folks blame the Republicans for the current state of the economy when the policies of the Democrats, who are in power, have put us in the position that we are in?
Seven Percent Solution on April 20, 2008 at 10:02 PM
reminds me of the hell demons in the movie Silent Hill
blatantblue on April 20, 2008 at 10:04 PM
It’s a sportshop?
The pun is obvious: dumb jocks.
Capitana on April 20, 2008 at 10:10 PM
“Just take a little of the top.”
If your barber is Brancusi.
profitsbeard on April 20, 2008 at 10:17 PM
Sheesh, Ed, it’s quite simple: The mannequins are a depiction of the Ideal Woman.
Instead of a curved spherical top, their heads are perfectly flat so you have somewhere to put down your frosted mug of beer. Only thing the mannequins need are big, protruding ears.
For handles, of course.
Misha I on April 20, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Looks like they have nipples though….that’s the thing that gets me….why do you need nipples on mannequins?
Vntnrse on April 20, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Just a lame attempt to be hip and edgy. I don’t think the store was trying to say anything by them; partly because they just don’t have anything to say.
Grafted on April 20, 2008 at 10:34 PM
You “think” entirely too much Ed….
Hog Wild on April 20, 2008 at 10:40 PM
I think Zorro on April 20, 2008 at 7:44 PM nailed it
Mojack420 on April 20, 2008 at 10:56 PM
This is in Minnesota, so of course it’s a green thing. The heads are actually pots. The employees just haven’t gotten around to planting anything yet.
Bugler on April 20, 2008 at 11:06 PM
Aside from the financials sector, which seems to be recovering, the economy is in pretty good shape, according to a lot of analysts. Unemployment is still near historic lows; the stock market is recovering; earnings reports are generally good; the low dollar is stimulating exports; and the 3% drop in interest rates have yet to kick in. If it comes roaring back over the summer, the Dems are going to be muttering “It’s the economy. . .” right back into minority status.
The biggest problem is fuel and (related) food price inflation, the former especially fueled by speculation (20%, some say). All Congress has to do is say the magic word, “Drill!” and that’ll puncture the futures balloon. The Republicans should push like hell for more domestic oil production, but they are so scared of the enviro-whackos that they may well continue their PC ways, and that’ll cost them the election.
As for the mannikins, it’s ‘art’ masquerading as marketing.
MrLynn on April 20, 2008 at 11:20 PM
. . . or maybe the reverse.
MrLynn on April 20, 2008 at 11:20 PM
The one in the middle is kind of cute.
hepcat on April 20, 2008 at 11:36 PM
I think it’s a puzzle: Why do the three mannequins have only half a skull? Answer: Because they don’t have four heads.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 21, 2008 at 12:20 AM
profitsbeard, you know my artistic countrymen, Eugen Ionescu, Constantin Brâncuşi…especially those who went to France :)
On topic – they’re all the same – absolute multi-culti global nirvana. “We’re all equal and a happy now”.
Synergy is when we go under together.
Entelechy on April 21, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Oh Hillary of Rodham, won’t you at least buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
The uptown folks drive Porsches, they must make amends.
Worked hard watching Oprah most of my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Hillary of Rodham, won’t you at least buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
Oh Hillary of Rodham, won’t you buy me a health care plan?
Working to pay for it myself is too hard on me.
I want to get prescription drugs and a doctor for free,
So Hillary of Rodham, won’t you buy me a health care plan ?
Oh Hillary of Rodham, won’t you buy me a retirement on the town ?
Prove that you’ll take care of me and buy my next round.
Oh Hillary of Rodham, won’t you buy me that big house down the block that I found?
I’m counting on you, Hillary of Rodham, please don’t let me down.
- JJ
MB4 on April 21, 2008 at 12:35 AM
All that aside, there are still a rather large number of nasty looking large flies in your economic analysis.
How will McCain handle the question that Ronald Reagan asked when debating Jimmy Carter, “Are You Better Off”?
The price of gasoline in 2001 was $1.39 per gallon. Now, it’s $4. The number of Americans lacking health insurance was 38 million; now, it’s 47 million. The national debt was $5.7 trillion in 2001; now, it’s $9.2 trillion. The dollar was worth 1.07 euro; now, it’s .68.
And so on: The poverty rate, college costs, take-home pay, personal indebtedness, foreign oil dependency and the trade deficit all are worse than they were when Bush took office.
In the GW debate, Emanuel and fellow Democrats Steve Israel (N.Y.), Artur Davis (Ala.) and Robert Andrews (N.J.) pummeled Republicans Putnam, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Eric Cantor (Va.) with the numbers, and the Republicans had no refutation to make.
Democrats will do the same to McCain, and he’d better get ready with answers. Although polls now show him running virtually even with both of his Democratic rivals, Democrats think that the 2008 update on Ronald Reagan’s famous question from 1980 – when he trounced Jimmy Carter – eventually will prove devastating to McCain, too.
- Mort Kondracke
MB4 on April 21, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Reminds me of the sign at a restaurant I used to drive past in Maine, near Waterville, The Silent Woman…
TBinSTL on April 21, 2008 at 1:18 AM
It also reminds me of a recent South Park episode.
TBinSTL on April 21, 2008 at 1:19 AM
Paraphrased “Don’t vote McCain due to McCain, but vote for McCain because Hillary/Obama make you do so.”
Mr. Sowell, via MB4
p.s. just trying to bring the thread back to demi-headless dames.
Entelechy on April 21, 2008 at 1:39 AM
hmmmm…not sure what this says about me, but I was too busy looking from the neck down :-/ I did not notice the half head…until I read the whole story
albuddy on April 21, 2008 at 1:51 AM
Or is it to distract from the hideously dull outfits below?
profitsbeard on April 21, 2008 at 1:58 AM
Maybe these are clothes for level-headed women.
Kralizec on April 21, 2008 at 2:01 AM
That people read too much into things?
Snake307 on April 21, 2008 at 2:19 AM
Relax, Ed. It’s just someone’s attempt at cutting edge design.
Halley on April 21, 2008 at 5:12 AM
It says:
Look stylish while Hannibal Lecter haves you over for dinner.
csdeven on April 21, 2008 at 7:36 AM
not that I’m that big of a mall shopper..,
but I’ve seen mannequins like that for some time now..
dont think it’s anything new..
DaveC on April 21, 2008 at 7:55 AM
half a head is the new whole head
(just hate those sayings that ______ is the new ______ , but you can use it almost anywhere).
pecan pie on April 21, 2008 at 8:11 AM
I think the mannequin design was probably the inspiration for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s design for Britney Spears in that episode of “South Park” last month.
jon1979 on April 21, 2008 at 8:34 AM
I have to laugh at those mannequins. They’re usually a size negative 27. No American woman looks like that. Not even our most famous anorexics.
I would never buy anything from a store that put a half-head/headless imitation of a stick-figure woman in its window.
PoliticallyIncorrectSandy on April 21, 2008 at 9:43 AM
Message: “Can’t you see yourself in this?”
captivated_dem on April 21, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Typical Mannequin Person.
Akzed on April 21, 2008 at 1:32 PM