Atlantic Asks the Tough Questions … But Oh, Where Are the Answers?

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Operating under the premise that “there are too many rote answers and not enough good questions,” The Atlantic launched Think Again, for which rhetorical questions are posed in neon lights, foregrounding deserted industrial spaces.

Right now these ads are all over Internets. Videos, blog posts and photo variants are available on the site.

We like it — it’s a simple, but still eye-catching and occasionally even witty. Some we’ve seen:

o Should women settle?
o Why do presidents lie?
o Is the doughnut doomed?

Lately ad land is all about the rhetorical questions. (Maybe it’s the economy.) See Google’s T-Mobile G1 spot or those weire Ask.com pieces.

Speaking of Ask, it recently ran a banner ad campaign that posed questions, then invited people to click for the answer. The act brought them to Ask.com, where the answer appeared with a prominent heading and image.

That’s one tactic that would’ve made The Atlantic’s campaign better: if you could click on the banners and find news articles directly related to the question, maybe addressing it from multiple sides. As it is, the ads only bring you to the Think Again subsite.

Picture of Steve Hall

Steve Hall

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