What did the fox say?

I’m obsessed with Howard Gossage. I adore his sense of humour, and his ability to come up with surreal promotional ideas that involve winning a kangaroo and mailing in for “pink air”.

In class, we were given the opportunity to make a Gossage-inspired ad for The Bay.

I’m also obsessed with The Bay.

However, thinking like Gossage is a lot harder than I anticipated. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of taking one of his ideas and applying it to the fit The Bay’s criteria. Therefore, I avoided Gossage-isms at all costs: no winning a kangaroo and no receiving a balloon of pink air.

My original idea was to revert back to the fur trade. However, that has a whole list of past and present negative connotations, despite it being a part of Canada’s rich history.

You’re welcome, PETA.

Instead, I thought: What did the fox say?

Well, he said nothing. He ran away.

My ad focuses on the case of the missing fox from The Bay’s coat of arms, and what the moose would do without him. I tried my best to find a vintage picture of the fox, but no such image exists unless it’s severely pixilated. Therefore, I use a modern version of the coat of arms—and luckily it still works.

Enjoy!