It’s worth noting that there were times when you were considered particularly trendy if you slept with as many people as possible. What the soap opera «Ally McBeal»—recently canceled due to declining ratings—showed us, and what can be summarized, somewhat simplistically, as pairings of woman and man, man and man, or woman and woman, is a thing of the past. Our individualized present hasn’t stopped at the bedroom door either. Why settle for just one
Why go through all that trouble when you can do it on your own? The brands Calvin Klein and Iceberg are leading the way and dispelling an old Catholic cliché—namely, that doing selfish manual labor doesn’t result in calluses or black spots on your fingers. At least not right away… Chandra Kurt
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Nobody Wants Us by Michael Barney
I'm sorry, but it's true: advertising messages aren't exactly something the general public is hungry for or curious about. Whether or not Sarah Connor wore panties on Thomas Gottschalk’s show excites people more than Calida’s entire advertising budget ever will. And an ambassador’s misstep becomes as important as if our lives depended on it. At least for *Blick* readers. So a lot of money is spent on advertising, but does anyone get upset about it? Do they tell their neighbors about it? Not at all. Does anyone want to know what’s on billboards, airing during commercial breaks, or placed between editorial content in magazines? No. The reasons for this are quite human. Because in this country, advertising merely confirms what everyone already knows or is familiar with. Drinks quench thirst, chocolate is made by people in white hats, and for all the hard-of-hearing folks out there, the kitchen ends up under water. Stuff like that doesn’t blow anyone’s mind anymore. Yet the people behind it all agreed beforehand: the strategy is right, the target audience is right, the media plan is right. And if anything in the creative work was still a bit unusual or incomprehensible, they nitpicked at it until it was «right»—in the sense of boring or bland. And that’s where the mistakes lie. Howard L. Gossage knew this long before Jung von Matt: «People only read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.» Since no one out there is waiting for the familiar, the expected, or the banal, advertising needs to be bolder, cheekier, and more provocative. Give your heart a nudge, and at your next presentation, feel free to let an idea slip through that not everyone will like—but that your target audience will.
Michael Barney is a senior copywriter at the Lowe advertising agency in Zurich.
Business lunch
A tender and subdued gaze from Medusa. Let’s start with a visit to a restaurant restroom. Back in the day, Mom used to tell us to wash our hands before eating. Why did I, of all places, head to the restroom first at the «Rathauskeller» in Zug before sitting down to eat? What I found there simply has to be shared, because it’s so fitting: four different types of eau de toilette, a toothbrush (wrapped in cellophane), a comb, and a hairbrush (clean!). This has nothing to do with the food—but it says a lot about the attention Hubert Erni and Stefan Meier pay to their guests.
The concept of the restaurant as a total work of art (including the restroom) is carried out with meticulous attention to detail in Zug. This is certainly true on the first floor, where we enjoyed a business lunch (three courses, 68 francs). The room, with its wooden ceiling and ornate carvings, exudes not the cozy atmosphere of cigar smoke but rather a refined tranquility. This is further enhanced by the Versace-designed vases filled with fresh cut flowers, as well as the Rosenthal tableware collection called “Medusa,” designed by the fashion designer. Some might find it too ornate—but on this floor, it fits the ambiance perfectly.
What was served on these plates is quite unique and deserves praise. Not exactly out of this world, though. The appetizer: two perfectly cooked scallops, shrimp, and a risotto that was a bit flat in flavor but had an excellent texture, accompanied by two spinach dumplings. The main course: pink-roasted pigeon breast with a potato timbale and a somewhat inconsistent mushroom sauce—instead of cultivated button mushrooms, robust porcini mushrooms would have complemented the pigeon meat’s strong, distinctive flavor more perfectly. Dessert: white chocolate ice cream (in a brittle basket) on a strawberry coulis with mango chunks—perfect. With half a liter of white wine, a liter of mineral water, and two coffees, the total came to over 200 francs. Fine by me. Because it was a real treat to dine just a stone’s throw from the shore of Lake Zug. And it goes without saying that the first floor is also perfectly suited for business lunches. By the way, cell phones have no chance of getting a signal within the thick walls of the Altstadthaus. Carlo Bernasconi [email protected]
Restaurant Rathauskeller, Obere Altstadt 1
6300 Zug
Tel. 041 711 00 58
Fax 041 710 49 77
There are plenty of parking spaces in the casino parking garage.
