The other day as I was making my way from the R train to the A underground at Times Square station, I noticed a series of ads along the corridor. Now I usually don’t stop and stare at ads amidst a dense walking crowd during rush hour, but what really caught my eye were two friends huddling over an ad together sharing a headphone. So I stopped, took my ear buds out of my iPhone and plugged into one of the audio jacks on an ad. What did I hear? It’s a secret.
Secrets have been making some money for sometime. And I’m not just talking blackmail. Think about the ridiculous, endless amount of gossip magazines, blogs and TV shows out there. Unnecessary? I think so, but conspicuous? Always.
The whole theme of this ad campaign is secrets – “Everyone has something to hide.” These series of advertisements are part of HBO’s Big Love, a series about a polygamous family and their day-to-day lives. The ads were created by BBDO and don’t feature any of the cast members, but rather a photo of an everyday metropolitan intersection. Each person in the photograph has an audio jack above their heads and when you plug in, you hear each person revealing a secret – from low self-esteem to perverse thoughts. This is a very new and interesting level of interaction to add to one’s commute. It definitely got my curiosity and made me want (and attempt) to listen to each person’s secret.
So at first it was the extra element of interaction of an ad that pulled me in, but secrets that kept me there. Also, the secrets don’t end with these ads, when you go to the URL provided on the ad, it takes you to an interactive website, Web of Secrets, where you can read the characters’ secrets as well as submit your own anonymous ones. However HBO and BBDO was not the first to invent the “secrets” industry.
The theme of secrets seems to pull a community together. Ironic right? Especially since one should always keep a secret to his or herself, to the grave, or at most, to your local religious figure.
Big Love’s Web of Secrets is very similar to seasoned sites like Post Secret and Group Hug. These sites invite anyone to anonymously submit secrets for everyone, everywhere to witness. And if being anonymous wasn’t good enough, there are sites that let you reveal your deepest darkest matters with the options of leaving your name, contact info, rating systems, and comment options (e.g. Dear God, F*** My Life) .
It’s inevitable; secrets bring people together. They give us basis to relate to a common feeling, to associate with the rich and famous, and of course to have something to follow. And with these website sites of anonymous and semi-anonymous confessions, it is easy to find judgment without actually feeling out casted by anyone but yourself.
So, what’s a secret if everyone knows?
