I’ve moaned about bad archery in advertising and TV etc. half a dozen times already on this blog, and recently on Facebook too. Don’t get me wrong: it doesn’t really matter, but my take on it is pretty simple: All archery is good for archery, but it’s almost as easy to get it right as wrong. Isn’t it?

Anyway, Mr. Clark over at Chucking Sticks found this extraordinary example, for a Mexican university. I’m up to seven wrongs and counting, and it’s the first one to top this Malaysian masterpiece. The caption translates as something like ‘Only when your goal is meaningful will you strive.’ I’d make the first meaningful goal to sack the advertising agency, and stop using terrible stock photo agencies who have committed other horrors.

[RANT] This is the thing: I believe people tend to recognise authenticity when it is put in front of them. When something technical is presented (especially on TV) you can always tell when you are seeing an expert doing something rather than just a model, and with archery-based ads that little gleam of reality is only going to enhance the image of rugged individualism / ‘aiming high’ / ‘hitting the target’ etc. that they are trying to project with the product. It’s not like ‘finding an archer’ is going to be the most difficult or expensive part of the production… and some advertisers have done it. [/RANT]