Though arch instant print camera rivals, Polaroid and Fujifilm have reached the same conclusion: we’re spending too long on our screens when we should be engaging more with the beauty of the natural world. And buying more cameras with which to capture its wonders, naturally.
Declaring ‘the best of Summer is analogue’, Polaroid is currently running a campaign for its ultra compact Go Generation 3 and larger Flip instant cameras with a distinctly anti AI sentiment.
‘Go jump in some water before the data centres drink it all up’ runs one billboard poster; a message that hits somewhere between humorous and depressing. An entreaty to buy an analogue product is portrayed as an act of rebellion against a digital present and future, or, more starkly, a last roll of the dice before Artificial Intelligence irrevocably reshapes our world. A simple, direct message is often the most effective when it comes to advertising – and I like the bluntness of the copy provided.
For its part, Polaroid says its intention was to remind people that, in a currently AI obsessed climate, ‘the best of life is analogue’. Another ad reasons: ‘No one on their death bed ever said: I wish I’d spent more time on my phone’. Cheekily, Polaroid’s ad agency admits choosing locations next to Apple stores and Google offices to run its ads.
Not to be outdone Fuji is currently plastering public sites including tube stations with its own anti-doomscrolling message: ‘Look up and take it in’. Its own intention was to answer the question: ‘in a world in which anyone can pick up a phone and be a photographer, why should someone use a Fujifilm camera?’
Now of course owning a camera phone doesn’t automatically make you a photographer, but I admire the fact that the photo industry is confronting existential challenges head on, after years of burying its head in the sand.
Fuji suggests its cameras aren’t just tools for taking images, they’re a way to encourage people to slow down, take notice of their surroundings and be intentional in their image creation. It adds: “[the campaign] goes beyond megapixels and taps into why people love taking images.” Or so the brand hopes. To others it may resemble a bunch of holiday snaps. But reconnecting with the real world and getting out in nature does have proven mental health benefits for photographers, as I’ve written about before for AP.
Photo taking presented as a distinctly human act
A clever aspect of the Polaroid’s parallel promotion is that it began with physical posters and billboards – in and of itself strictly analogue. Just as cleverly, after a few weeks, passer-by photos of the ads started to be shared online – and now of course the imagery has gone viral, which is why, as a UK resident, I chanced across it.
It’s got people talking about Polaroid again – something that the brand’s usual soft launches would never have achieved. Ironically, anti-digital or not, the brand has briefly become part of my everyday doom-scroll.
A digital dystopia is fast approaching and resistance is futile. So rather than doing the proverbial fiddling while Rome burns, let’s go out and take Polaroids instead, and make a point of shooting with the tactility of Fuji cameras.
Or as Polaroid currently puts it: ‘We used technology to escape from real life. Now we need real life to escape from technology.’
Watch the Polaroid behind-the-scenes ad on YouTube HERE
Fujifilm’s campaign video can also be watched on YouTube HERE
Has a desire to spend less time on your phone – or being anti AI or anti big tech generally – made you want to buy a new camera to feel more ‘present’, or invest more deeply in your photographic hobby? Share your thoughts with us at AP.
The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Amateur Photographer magazine or Kelsey Media Limited. If you have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic, or any other photography related subject, email: [email protected]
Related reading:
- The rise and fall of Polaroid
- The Impossible Project: How two men achieved the impossible and saved Polaroid
- Best Fujifilm cameras to buy: get the Fujifilm look with these retro-styled beauties
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