UPS Ads called "Mesmerizing" by Slate.com

From slate.com:

Ad Report Card reader S.B. e-mails: "You've got to do a column about those UPS ads with the guy doodling at the whiteboard. I get sucked in every time one comes on. The doodling is hypnotic."

A response also on Slate.com reads:

I agree. These ads are mesmerizing. It's partly all that white space. (An old advertising trick. Think of those full-page newspaper ads that luxuriate in acres of blank newsprint.)



BLOGEATBLOG says:

Take a closer look at these UPS ads. Watch them carefully. Don't blink, because you just may miss it. It's not the white space (which isn't an old ad trick by the way - it's that eyes automatically move to light space from dark space.) There is an even more subtle trick being used here guaranteed to snag attention and keep viewers bewildered. It's a 45-yr old man with hair too long for his age. When he looks at the camera, look at his face - and you will be absolutely spooked. Hey wait! Is that Richard Stratton (Joel Higgins) from TV's Silver Spoons? He's barely aged.