This advertising juxtaposition at the corner of Rivington and Essex is quite interesting, culturally. It basically represents a clash of the Old Lower East Side and the New Lower East Side.
At the bottom, you have an aged painted ad for Schapiro's Kosher Wine, an old concern which until recently had a small plant on Rivington, providing sweet ritual wine to the observant Jews that once lived in the area. The Red Stripe ad, meanwhile, is cloth and relatively new, the "Hooray Beer" campaign being of this decade. Schapiro was/is all about service to Kosher laws. Red Stripe is all about having fun. Schapiro never cared about image, only that it was trusted by its consumer base. Red Stripe's ad is about as self-consciously hip as you can get, perfectly catering toward the demographic who will drink something based on an appreciably ironic tag line.
I doubt the Schapiro people have ever heard of irony.
There is indeed no irony in Schapiro's old boast, "Wine so thick you can cut it with a knife."
ReplyDeletegreat pic and post. I wonder how old the Schapiro's sign is?
ReplyDeleteNice juxtaposition of signs. Must say you NYC guys are spoiled for the old Ghost Signs, over here in London, UK they're a rarity. I guess you've seen Frank Jump's NYC Fading Ad blog?
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