Promotional Consideration: Communion Day

by Eric Caoili { Jul 8th 2007 at 2:00PM }

Promotional Consideration is a new weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out. Our christening post takes a look at an Italian ad for the handheld that won Epica's silver award for Press last year. Check past the post break for the full image.

"Communion Day" by Leo Burnett, Milan
Click the resized picture for a larger version.

Sunday sacraments. Relatives with cameras. Distracted youth.

The gray hardware overlayed on the bottom right betrays this print advertisement's age, but it also serves to explain the photo's otherwise subtle composition. Formally dressed for their first Eucharist, the boys in the back row seem almost too well-behaved, their heads bowed in what looks like a gesture of Catholic respect. A second or two of puzzling the scene out, however, tells a more mischievous story. Unfortunately for the front-and-centered young girls, their virginal white dresses lack any pockets to hide their own handhelds.

Though it's implied that the above photo was taken on church steps, it was actually shot at the Pinacoteca di Brera, an art gallery and museum -- one of Italy's largest -- in downtown Milan. We had a chance to speak with Rosemary Collini Bosso, Leo Burnett's art director behind this particular ad, and she explained that the company was attempting to suggest the Nintendo DS as a perfect communion gift, playing on the "devotion" gamers have for their consoles.

Tags: ad, ads, advertisement, advertisements, catholic, communion, communion day, CommunionDay, eucharist, italian, italy, leo burnett, leo burnett milan, LeoBurnett, LeoBurnettMilan, magazine, milan, pc, print ad, PrintAd, promotional consideration, PromotionalConsideration