The ad is interesting from my perspective, as a professional advertising guy myself. I can see the client instructing the artist that he wants to demonstrate to readers INSTANTLY that this fabulous new type of torque wrench will do the job for you, even if you cannot see it, hear it, or even feel it in your hands. So the artist probably drew it a dozen times, trying to achieve all that. But when it was done, the client wanted to cram more information into the ad, so the cartoon had to be made smaller and smaller still, to make more room for more copy. To make it fit, the artist eventually redrew it with the tool held in that awkward position, so that he could make it compact enough to fit in a small space, yet still show the covered eyes, ears, and hand...AND make sure readers noticed that the character was enjoying the tool. The net result...readers think the character looks silly. But the client is satisfied, and the artist FINALLY gets paid.
Later...the sales and marketing guys get some negative comments from dealers around the country, saying that the character looks silly. So the artist gets fired
(or never called upon again, if he was an outside contractor), and the entire project gets blamed on the ad agency or the "
kooky" artist.
Happens every day, in my world.
