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throwing rocks

Someone phoned in to Debbie Millman’s online radio show and asked the design director from Pepsi about the US flag-like nature of Pepsi cans. She denied the connection. It reminded me of a story that you can be assured is completely fictional:

1970. A group of young denizens of Garden Grove, California sitting around and in a pond in the hills above what nobody then called “The OC.” Many (most? all?) of them had swallowed small purple tablets of some sort. A newly-redesigned Pepsi can floated in the water and most of the scruffy young men were throwing rocks at the can. One completely fictional young man (who confesses to nothing—nothing, I tell you) said “Do you guys know that you’re throwing rocks at yourself?” The reaction was, of course, generalized puzzlement.

“You come up here to escape down there. You bring the perfect symbol of what you’re trying to escape—red, white, and blue, mass produced… and it doesn’t fit in so you throw rocks at it. You’re throwing rocks at yourselves.”

“Shut up, man” came the reply. “You’re on acid. You’re not making any sense.”

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ENTRY DETAILS
ARCHIVE ID 2222 FILED UNDER Branding and Identity
PUBLISHED ON Feb.18.2005 BY Gunnar Swanson
WITH COMMENTS
Comments
Feluxe ’s comment is:

Er, OK.

I went to the Millman link. Is there any way we can hear the material? Looks like they sell maternity material on that site. Perhaps they could use some rebrand-stewarding.

Or maybe I'm the one on acid.

On Feb.18.2005 at 05:42 PM
Armin’s comment is:

Felix, you can download .wma files for each show. You will need Windows Media Player, which you can download at no cost.

First show

Second show

Third show

***

Gunnar… are you on acid? You are making no sense… shut up, man.

Seriously, is the discussion about criting ourselves?

On Feb.18.2005 at 05:58 PM
Steven’s comment is:

"Wherever you go, there you are."

We are intrinsicly a biproduct of our environment. To deny this is to deny one's existence.

---

With such a predominant use of red, white, and blue, it's hard to believe that the US flag didn't play into the design on some level, even subconsciously. It would be interesting to do a survey of the use of color in design compared to the country of origin. My guess is that chromatic similarities would invariably appear.

On Feb.18.2005 at 06:07 PM
CactusJones’s comment is:

Gunnar, you crazy ole fugger.

I coodna figger out why I unnerstood you.

I thawt it was a cuz I did time at an IATSE shop.

I herd you done scenic arts to.

But naw. Damm if'n it ain't the OC connect.

Momma done popped me en bruther Dave

out at the Garden Grove hospital. So DAM!

Wure like cousins! You crazy ole fugger!

On Feb.18.2005 at 06:42 PM
Gunnar Swanson’s comment is:

Momma done popped me en bruther Dave out at the Garden Grove hospital.

The Garden Grove Hospital didn’t exist in time for me but, yeah, you, Steve Martin, and I are home boys. (Martin was long gone from Garden Grove High School by the time I was getting tossed out of Santiago.)

Gunnar… are you on acid? You are making no sense… shut up, man.

Seriously, is the discussion about criting ourselves?

It will be interesting to see what the conversation is about. I could draw several lessons from my story but think it will be more interesting to see what others find in it.

On Feb.18.2005 at 06:53 PM
Jeff Gill’s comment is:

The nugget o' truth that I got was that

those who feel the most like they don't fit in

are often the most vehement excluders

of those that don't fit in with them.

On Feb.18.2005 at 07:03 PM
Jeff Gill’s comment is:

And they have no clue that they are being exlusive.

On Feb.18.2005 at 07:04 PM
Jeff Gill’s comment is:

which is kind of like exclusive but not spelled as well.

I'm off to bed.

On Feb.18.2005 at 07:05 PM
tommy chong’s comment is:

...duuude, look how big my HANDS are, maaaan...

Gunnar, thanks for helping us stretch our brains.

john

On Feb.18.2005 at 08:04 PM
David’s comment is:

There's no hills in Garden Grove.

On Feb.18.2005 at 08:39 PM
Tan’s comment is:

Man, all of a sudden, I've got a case of the munchies like something wicked.

Like, I would KILL for a giant bag of Doritos...or..OH, OH, OH..I got it! W-H-I-T-E- C-A-S-T-L-E baby. Yea, about a couple of dozen, and an Orange Julius to wash it aaaallll down...

Yea...now what was this shit you guys are all talking about?

On Feb.18.2005 at 08:43 PM
Gunnar Swanson’s comment is:

There's no hills in Garden Grove.

Nor were there in my (completely fictional) tale that took place “in the hills above what nobody then called �The OC.’” (There were also no trees in Holy Jim Canyon but I remember looking up at them anyway.)

Tan thinks he’ll cement his good boy image by pretending not to know the difference between marijuana and LSD but he may know more about drugs than he lets on. A search of Google archives reveals his original Speak Up bio to have said:

places I’ve lived

Vietnam (through which I smuggled Laotian opium)

Houston (where I sold peyote that I hid inside the mechanical bull at Gilley’s)

On Feb.18.2005 at 09:11 PM
Tan’s comment is:

>by pretending not to know the difference

Shockingly, this good boy has indeed swallowed the sugar cube once or twice in his college days. I had some interesting friends back then....I remember this girl named TJ, and having some very vivid discussions about the book Flatlands. Circles and triangles making love and shit.

Course, I'm making this all up. And I deny ever taking a trip with Mr. Opium and Mr. Peyote. Drugs are bad, kids.

On Feb.18.2005 at 11:03 PM
Michael Surtees’s comment is:

maybe it was just me, but the references to mcluhan, mau and klein at the beginning gave me a chuckle. to me that seemed a much more interesting pattern then talking about coincidental colour.

On Feb.19.2005 at 04:06 AM
Tan’s comment is:

Ok, be cool Dad — we'll get back to studying. Sheesh.

On Feb.19.2005 at 06:52 AM
Josiah Murphalicious’s comment is:

Okay, so how many designers *haven't* done acid? I know everybody's brain is a unique and special snowflake, but I just wonder if there could be a categorical difference in the imagination process between those who have and those who haven't.

Therefore, I propose a study! Yes, a study, to see if this is true.

On Feb.19.2005 at 01:52 PM
Armin’s comment is:

As unbelievable as this may sound I have never a) smoked pot, not once or b) done any drugs, much less c) acid.

The closest I have gotten is having gulped a full bottle of Hershey's fudge with my brother… trust me, it does something to you.

On Feb.19.2005 at 01:59 PM
szkat’s comment is:

the closest i've been to doing any drugs - i was on larium for six months, which has *possible* side effects of paranoia, insomnia, drowsiness, hallucinations, and agression. i don't think any of those hit me in my travels except the hallucinations. it happened a few times where i thought my roommate came home yelling at me - in the morning i'd apologize and she'd laugh at me. it never actually happened...

two years later my dreams are still exceptionally vivid. i can fly, read, sing, smell - all the senses are there. it's cool. but kind of freaky to know how much i can make up in my head.

On Feb.19.2005 at 04:51 PM
Mitch’s comment is:

the only drugs i have done recently is watching Martin Venezky give a critique.

(i mean that in a good way, Martin)

On Feb.19.2005 at 05:56 PM
d.a.’s comment is:

It's interesting to talk about this. I just graduated from college and know plenty of design students who rely on getting high when they're "brainstorming". They would usually come up with a concept that would require even more drugs to execute - and in that induced state, fail miserably.

I always wondered how they would do in the workplace, where sobriety is expected. I also felt like it cheapened the work that I took seriously.

On Feb.19.2005 at 07:38 PM
Rob Guy’s comment is:

Good Lord, the kids in my program at Sheridan smoke 24/7 it seems. Personally, I've never found it to help my creative process however.

On Feb.19.2005 at 07:46 PM
Tan’s comment is:

>Okay, so how many designers *haven't* done acid?

My questionable friends way back when weren't designers, but were biochem majors and hardcore computer science engineers and such. I knew lots of premed students that took speed to survive their double majors. And it was a known fact in our school that the most hardcore potheads were in the creative writing department. No joke.

In contrast, our design department was squeaky clean. Design students were all too broke paying for Pantone paper and color outputs it seems.

Today, most designers I know have never touched the stuff. Ok, maybe some inhale now and then, but it's mostly recreational, and has nothing to do with work or being more creative.

Whether or not you've done it means nothing. It's all bad for your body. Michael's right — we should move on. It's all Gunnar's fault.

On Feb.19.2005 at 09:07 PM
vibranium’s comment is:

As unbelievable as this may sound I have never a) smoked pot, not once or b) done any drugs, much less c) acid.

me niether. nothing against it, just never have...and now that I have a son, and a daughter on the way I doubt I ever will...

On Feb.20.2005 at 12:37 PM
Gunnar Swanson’s comment is:

Some questions regarding my little tale that don't require confessions of illegal drug use:

What is the relationship of people and the brands they buy? Were the scraggly young dopers in the story really throwing rocks at themselves? In what sense?

How does this relationship change when people move into different environments? Do brand relationships limit people’s horizons?

Write neatly in a bluebook. You have thirty minutes. Remember that this exam counts of 50% of your grade.

On Feb.20.2005 at 12:50 PM
RavenOne’s comment is:

The pepsi/Flag comment made me wonder: Are we more likely to buy or at least respond favorably to brands that have some resemblance to our flag? And have their sales gone up since 9-11?

As for acid...

Caffiene is my drug of choice.

-someone save me from my advertising class. It's sucked up my brain. EEK!

On Feb.21.2005 at 02:12 AM
Steve Mock’s comment is:

The thing that's explicitly missing from your story is the motivation behind the rock throwing. Were you/they throwing rocks at the can to:

A. protest against large corporations?

B. protest against America proper, the redwhiteandblue?

C. protest against the increasing conflation of A and B?

D. just pass the time?

I suppose the implication to support A, B or C is to be found in paragraph 1. Otherwise, sounds like good, clean D to me.

Just remember to pick up your can before you leave.

On Feb.21.2005 at 02:47 PM
Gunnar Swanson’s comment is:

Were you/they throwing rocks at the can to:

A. protest against large corporations?

B. protest against America proper, the redwhiteandblue?

C. protest against the increasing conflation of A and B?

D. just pass the time?

They.

E. None of the above.

They’d have said D. My interpretation included an internalization of the objects of A and B and the “protest” being played out as self-loathing.

On Feb.22.2005 at 11:16 AM
Rob’s comment is:

So, in our drug-induced haze, no matter what we may be railing against, we are in truth doing it against ourselves?

That in our very freedom to express our opinions about anything short of a fire in a theatre, we are simply expressing our own dismay with ourselves and our state of being?

I'm trying to remember, while a happy camper in college...the days of coke. smoke and beer (poor Lenny Bias)...how our own protests against things Soviet (the Refuseniks in particular) could they too be interpreted as being an argument for our own narrow mindeness? Do we, in our ability to say what is the correct path for others we know so little about personally, really affront our own lives and choices?

And why, does this thread lead me to just questions, rather than answers about throwing rocks at a patriotic can? Gunnar?

On Feb.22.2005 at 02:48 PM
Gunnar Swanson’s comment is:

Rob—

no matter what we may be railing against, we are in truth doing it against ourselves?

Is this the paradox that deconstruction (the philosophical approach, not messing around with type) claims to reveal—that every thesis is ultimately betrayed by an embedded antithesis the author is unaware of?

And why, does this thread lead me to just questions, rather than answers about throwing rocks at a patriotic can? Gunnar?

Are interesting stories inherently complex even when seemingly simple? Do acid insights tend to be murky at best and chimerical most of the time?

I’m trying to wrap up work so I can take off to Toronto for the rest of the week so even if I knew the answer (or had other good questions) it might have to wait. Oh, sorry, Alex. I’ll rephrase that as a question.

On Feb.22.2005 at 03:09 PM
Schmittie’s comment is:

I couldn't agree with Jeff Gill more...

"We see things often as we are, not as they are."

On Feb.22.2005 at 04:45 PM