Monster Energy Drink Truck

Das Bus · Post by **Das Bus** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 3:15 am

Did anyone else see the Monster Energy Drink semi truck driving through BRC on Sunday? What was the deal with that? Special delivery for Larry?????

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:43 am

I saw that truck for 9 days straight. Huffed the genny fumes as well.

The CEO of hansons brought this truck to the playa for Clan Destino. Heard from them it was used on the vans tour. They had blacked out all of the logos while it was parked next door. They brought in pallette loads of monster for their swamp cooled wet bar. They gave us a case when we asked them to turn off the semis headlights. When I saw them packing up the truck on Sunday afternoon the logos were not yet visible.

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:21 am

I, too, lived next door to the Monster Truck. I saw the Monster Shade Tarp before they covered it and it incensed me. I saw a camp-mate return from a friendly visit laden with two flats of Hansen Product and it incensed me.

And when the Monster Truck rolled along the Esplanade, right in front of my face, I could not but bellow "WHAT the FUCK is THAT?? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT????"

Members of my camp reminded me that it was a gift economy and that if they could bring tons of Coke to give away, they'd find a way to do it.

and to a certain point, i agree

But if it is to be done, it should be done in such a way that NO ONE EVER SUSPECTS THAT IT IS COKE THAT'S BEING GIVEN AWAY. Or Monster. Or Hansens. Or whatever.

The moment those little seeds of marketting get disseminated gratis to the thirsty burners, Monster gets one step closer to being "the drink of the burn".

If you must give it away, then fill people's cups- cans are just moop. Cover the truck BEFORE YOU ARRIVE and leave the logos covered until AFTER YOU LEAVE.

Make it a true gift- don't make us pay without asking by exposing us to your infernal advertising.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:40 am

Hear, hear! And while we're on a "wtf advertising" roll, let's talk about Piss Clear.

Why in the two issues of Piss Clear that I got were there four ads for legitimate products? Trojan condoms, Captain Morgan Rum, Johnnie Walker, and Salem cigarettes. There was no satire in the ads. They were not jokes. They each used real corporate logos and the depicted the man - with the exception of the Tojan ad.

After all the crap Rachel got about putting up two displays at Trader Joe's and especially after hearing that one cannot use the Burning Man logo without express consent of BMorg, I was truly disheartened to see these ads because to me, that says there was express consent. It made me not want to return, but saturday and sunday changed my mind. Regardless, I was fairly outraged by the idea that it was totally cool with Harry Larvae and company to allow open advertising at an event that's supposed to be totally non-commercial.

I smell money somewhere.

jbelson · Post by **jbelson** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:42 am

I'm gonna say that the clan Destino guys did a great job. When I saw the truck they covered all the logos. The logos were uncovered at the end to avoid shedding the plastic as they drove off which would leave moop. Would you rather have a logo for 20 mins or a bunch of shit flying around the playa? They also gifted a ton of drinks, way beyond the call of the community. They poured in cups, and even provided more than they should have. To ask them to do away with all the cans sounds like a request from an arm-chair burner. Some one who sits there and judges other people's efforts. Not only did they provide great entertainment, and impressive bamboo structure, they had two gifting bars. One in camp and one that roamed the playa and sat about 20 people. That was a monumental effort. I made some good friends in that camp and even donated to their cause as much as possible.
If you seek perfection, find it in yourself first before looking for it in others. Did you cover up your u-haul logo every single second you were in black rock city? How about the ford logo on your car?

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:54 am

the brand on a moving truck is a bit different from the trailer of a semi that is the size and garishness of a billboard. and if the covering couldn't stand being driven off the playa at 5mph before being removed, how was it able to stay on during those windstorms?

don't get me wrong. i heard nothing but great things from Clan Destino and it was a pleasure being their neighbor. but every logo on the playa hurts. while i might not covered all mine (though i do admit that i should have) if you count of all the logos found at the event, you'd find more monsters than you would have otherwise.

i never read the piss clear- if what you say is true, i will never purchase from those companies again, and will actively seek out and burn every piss clear i can find in the future. be warned.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:25 pm

I still have both copies. I'll can them and post it up.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:26 pm

I'll scan them, also.

Man, I hate typos.

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:31 pm

Hey FatSam, I went over to the pissers to talk about that very thing. You missed the expedia, ebay, and mastercard ones. They said that they didn't accept money so they didn't consider them ads, which I don't agree with. We had a great conversation about it- how even if they changed the brand names, we would still recognize the font of those brands; how everywhere you look at BM you see advertising, like labels on bottles, bikes, cars, etc; how piss clear is the 'alt' paper and maybe they do it just to piss people off, etc, etc. They also told me how some people were really, really mad about it and came to yell at them. I thought that was rather funny...I find most things that people take very seriously to be funny. I mean, really, I saw tons and tons of brands all over the playa- it was hardly an ad-free event, although of course it was more ad free than most.

Although I didn't agree with what Piss Clear did, I did enjoy meeting and talking with the pissers. I think it's more hypocritical that coffee is for sale than seeing the ads in that paper. Ice sales though, I can deal with, hahaha.

btw, Red Bull is the drink of my burn- it's the drink of any all night party I'm at. I don't think I saw Monster anywhere (I don't even know what it is), so their ad didn't work on me.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:44 pm

The Piss Clear ads are fakes, and they're in there every year.

Don't believe me? Go to http://www.pissclear.org/

Adrian mentions on the front page, "On this site, you will find practically every article that has ever been published in PISS CLEAR over the years, along with a gallery of all our covers, plenty of fake ads..."

The section under "Image Gallery" is called "Fake Ads."

Even issue #1 from 1995 has a fake ad:
http://www.pissclear.org/PDFArchives/Pi ... 1_1995.pdf

I'd bet you $500 that Adrian doesn't collect a cent from any of the companies involved in the fake ads. In fact, if they got mad at him for stealing their logos, they could probably try to sue him (and hopefully lose because it's obviously fair use parody). I'm just sayin'.

Hey Adrian, if you're reading this, congrats on the wedding.

--Z.

sparkletarte · Post by **sparkletarte** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:47 pm

The pissers confirmed that they don't get any money for the ads, but just because they aren't paid for, does not mean they are not ads.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:55 pm

But they're fake ads. Are fake cigarettes actually cigarettes? I don't think so. None of the companies involved have any idea that their logos are being used in Piss Clear. Adrian and his staff just make up these ads to tweak people.

You may not find the joke funny, but it's supposed to be a joke. It goes like this: "What if BM was commercial and there were sponsorships? What kinds of companies would sponsor BM and want to advertise to burners? What would their ads look like? It'd be funny if we made up a handful of fake ads for our fake newspaper to make it seem more real and to get people thinking about the nature of BM's non-commercial nature."

This post is bought to you by Pepto Bismal.

stimulus · Post by **stimulus** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:04 pm

fer cryin' out loud.

This is exactly the kind of nitpicking that no one should have time for. Of course there are logos out there. They're on everything. Should we all be more diligent about covering them up? Probably. The only place I *ever* see rental RVs is BRC...and I know exactly where they come from. Why? Because they are rolling billboards. (Just like every moving truck.)

"No commerce" is unattainable in the most perfect sense, but is a good, simple way to think about no vendors hawking shit everywhere and using BM as a venue for blatant advertising.

As far as the Piss Clear ads go...they're usually funny. Instead of flipping out about someone's satirical application of one of the world's most recognized brands, lighten up and have some fun. Not everything is worth organizing a protest or boycott.

I hope everyone had a great burn this year!

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:34 pm

It's not a fake ad because it's actually an advertisement. If I was to show one of those ads to an ad exec for Salem or Trojan or whatever company, they'd be pleased as punch. They may sue Piss Clear because hey, why not? But they'd be pleased. Think of all the people that were reached with Salem Cigarette advertising. Oh boy.

If it's satire, it's poor satire. It doesn't take a lot of creativity to drop a real logo in a piture with Burning Man stuff going on in the background. If they were actually creating fake ads for stuff that burners would use, that might be funny.

"Swinger camp this year? Try the Greas-o-matic lube gun." Whatever. Make something up. I can see an ad for Captain Morgan in the real world.

It's not art. It's not a joke. It's not funny.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:56 pm

Fat SAM wrote:It's not art. It's not a joke. It's not funny.

A chacun son gout. I find them funny, because they're so out of context. I suspect in real life if the ad agencies saw these they'd blow a gasket, because brand managers hate to see their brands out of the carefully controlled contexts that they usually have.

Let's take the four in this issue for example (which I'm seeing for the first time since I skipped BM in 2003):
http://www.pissclear.org/PDFArchives/Pi ... t_2003.pdf

The Absolut one is really funny to me -- photoshopping the empty bottle into the temple is well done. Plus I can't stand that series of ads, so any parody does well with me (I think the real Absolut ads are incredibly pretentious and derivative).

The Grand Marnier one doesn't do much for me because I can't see it well enough. But it's clear to me that it's not a real ad.

The Tangueray one is a pretty good parody of the real ads, and also really subversive because of the juxtaposition of the BM symbol with the old-school alcohol ad.

The Salem one is also a good parody due to the tagline which is a subtle slam at the real Salem slogan and a good pun given the context.

So, I don't think Piss Clear expects everyone to appreciate the joke. I'm sure 90% of why they put these in is to get a reaction.

Mind you, the first year I saw them (1999? 2000? Forget which year I first read Piss Clear) I was pissed as hell, just like you. I think it just took me a while to get the joke.

Tancorix · Post by **Tancorix** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 8:43 pm

This is all much ado about nothing. I happen to like the so called "ads" and don't see a damn thing wrong with 'em. In fact I hope to see even more next year. There ain't a damn thing wrong with Piss Clear and anything they print. Keep the damn good work coming.

Piss Clear · Post by **Piss Clear** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:25 am

Hey people, I know there's not supposed be any commerce on the playa, but we're just a small-time alternative newspaper. Unlike the Burning Man company newsletter, the Black Rock Gazette, we are NOT FUNDED by the BMorg -- a portion of your ticket price does NOT go toward our vastly-superior independent newspaper. We produce Piss Clear on our OWN. If other people can have fundraisers and sell t-shirts to finance their theme camps, then why can't we sell advertising to MAJOR CORPORATIONS in order to fund our pathetic little Black Rock City newspaper?

BTW, did anyone read our rant about the Center Camp Cafe, and how hypocritical we think it is that BMorg demands "no commerce," yet sells coffee and tea? Why are caffeine products okay, but other things aren't?

Zeigen ... you rock! Thanks for your posts on this thread -- we couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Lysergic · Post by **Lysergic** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:32 am

Yea I didn't notice you guys really advertising in anyway at all, but I couldn't help notice the crowded lines for coffee. I'm was a newbie burner this year and that was about the only thing that disgusted me.

buckethead alien · Post by **buckethead alien** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:57 am

Piss Clear wrote: why can't we sell advertising to MAJOR CORPORATIONS in order to fund our pathetic little Black Rock City newspaper?

Whoop. Whoop. Whoop. Satire alert.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:17 am

Nah. You're using real corporate logos without making any changes. Be more creative and you'll stop hearing this criticism.

diggum · Post by **diggum** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:53 am

I propose MORE logos. MORE branding. Absolution through Dilution. Once we reach a critical peak, where branding and logos are so pervasive that your sensory input simply ceases to stop processing them on a subliminal level, you will have achieved an advertising nirvana. This will be a level so enlightened, that brands and logos will stop offending you and you realize it's just a set of shapes and colors, natures building blocks, configured with the man-constructed device we call "words."

When you reach this plateau, you will stop caring, stop craving, and lose your desire to consume. The idea that your purchase selection is based on clever marketing and massive spending will prove worthless, and you'll find yourself able to purchase based on quality, create for yourself, or simply lose the desire altogether.

Piss Clear · Post by **Piss Clear** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:11 am

Fat Sam, you are one clueless Burner. Have you actually READ Piss Clear? If so, then you would understand our tone a bit more. There's no point in creating a fake ad if it's OBVIOUSLY fake. The idea is to FAKE people out -- let's face it, the idea that a major corporation is going to make some specialized ad to run in a Black Rock City newspaper is sheer RIDICULOUSNESS. And that's what makes it funny.

This year, some of our fake ads were so good that people got genuinely irate about it. While on the one hand I'm proud that the quality of our work was so good that people thought that they were real. On the other hand, I wonder what kind of gullible humorless dorkasses are now coming to Burning Man, where they get so uppity, so easily?

For some historical reference, please see BMorg's theme for 1996, Helco, which parodied the idea of a Satanic corporation taking over Burning Man, an included obvious references in the art to Starbucks, McDonald's, and Burger King.

And in the meantime, please lighten up. Burning Man is no sacred cow.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:02 pm

Now now, Adrian, Sam's proven himself to be non-clueless in other threads. I'm still mellow enough from the burn to want to see everyone get along. Share the love! You tweaked him with the ad, and so now he's good and tweaked -- but he'll come around, I'm sure.

Thanks for the kind words earlier, and I do have to say I loved reading Piss Clear even more than usual this year. Congrats again on getting married out there.

Now, Sam, I also have to say that Adrian's right -- if the ads were obviously fake, the joke wouldn't be funny. Just like how an April Fools prank that is obviously not real (such as a newspaper headline that reads, "Aliens land on White house lawn! Wink wink!") is no kind of prank at all.

--Z.

Fat SAM · Post by **Fat SAM** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:40 pm

I'm all about sharing the love and I'm neither gullible nor humorless, though I'm certainly a dorkass. Whatever...If art is subjective, then my opinion of this particular art is that it's lame. But it's cool...I wonder if I can come up with some satire of my own. Time to fire up the old Photoshop - The official graphics program of Burning Man!

Thanks Adrian; you've just increased my participation.

GuinivereElise · Post by **GuinivereElise** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:19 pm

zeigen wrote:Now now, Adrian, Sam's proven himself to be non-clueless in other threads. I'm still mellow enough from the burn to want to see everyone get along. Share the love! You tweaked him with the ad, and so now he's good and tweaked -- but he'll come around, I'm sure.

Thanks for the kind words earlier, and I do have to say I loved reading Piss Clear even more than usual this year. Congrats again on getting married out there.

Now, Sam, I also have to say that Adrian's right -- if the ads were obviously fake, the joke wouldn't be funny. Just like how an April Fools prank that is obviously not real (such as a newspaper headline that reads, "Aliens land on White house lawn! Wink wink!") is no kind of prank at all.

--Z.

Adrian: if your point is to make ads that aren't obviously fake, then you HAVE to expect people to get pissed (no pun intended) about them. So, consider Sam's tweakage a job well done, in that case, and enjoy it! I must admit, ya got me too... faboo job.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:08 pm

Woo hoo! Now I'm feeling a warm glow of fuzziness. Everyone wins! Mass group hugs at the Piss Clear RV next year...

Sam I must say I'm looking forward to seeing your stuff.

Das Bus · Post by **Das Bus** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:28 pm

I have to say, I really enjoy it when something like an advertisement at BM enrages me: only to find out that the joke is on me! KUDOS to all who succeed! <although I think the Travelocity one was the best>

BTW: You guys always get me on April 1st!

greeterdan · Post by **greeterdan** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:15 pm

Yeah!

Burning Man is selling out. It's getting more and more commercial every year. MTV is there. The ads in Piss Clear. My god! Did you guys see the big Coke sign on top of Thunderdome? For God's sake, isn't "Thunderdome" a brand?

I mean, for chrissake, didn't you hear about the Travelocity Burning Man package last year?

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59740,00.html

Greeter Dan

Monster Energy Drink Truck

Monster Energy Drink Truck

"what the fuck is that???"

i'm no angel

~

~

hey

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