I think it started with a pun. It wasn’t even original, postmodern at best. The application of an old riddle about newspapers – ‘what’s black and white and red all over’ – to our magazine. A paper obviously looks monotone and leeches red ink, but the play on words implies it’s also widely appreciated and consumed. Great for Gallery, right? One of the alternative joke answers is, however, ‘a sunburnt penguin’. And that’s where the problem started.
In a pretty simple extension of that punchline, we added ‘Investors in Penguins’ to our footer as we didn’t qualify for the ‘Investors in People’ workplace accreditation. We actually sponsored a penguin, he was called ‘Majesty’, may his flippers rest in peace. I also decided to deviate from the Gallery’s standard fashion ads with some more comedic Gallery brand work. One included a range of penguins I designed to complement one a friend had drawn for us. The Clockwork Orange penguin still sits proudly as my LinkedIn profile image.
I’m totally comfortable with how that looks on that particular platform, but everyone began to assume I had areal thing about penguins. People started buying me things with penguins on them. Pins, books, socks… I even got given some paintings of penguins with little babies when we had our daughter. People send me penguin images. They send me news stories. I’m yet to receive an actual penguin. Don’t get me wrong, March of the Penguins got to me a little. I loved Happy Feet, I’ve read The Penguin Lessons. I like penguins… but I don’t anticipate putting a Juan Salador* in my bath any time soon.
Despite my attempts to temper the penguin onslaught, when I saw Matt Sharp’s photos from his trip to the Antarctic, there’s no way that the penguin shot wasn’t going on the cover. This edition is seasonally-focused with a great gift guide and loads of wonderful islanders smashing it in the arts, their careers and their creative endeavours but the metaphor of penguins thriving on shifting ice as a testament to adaptation and resilience is one that resonated with the moment of reflection we get as we approach a year-end. And I mean, flick back and appreciate how cool is would be to zoom through the water like those beasts! Maybe I like them more than I’m willing to admit.
BD
*the name of the penguin in The Penguin Lessons.
