Sunday, October 6, 2013

Outrageousness in Calendars

About this time each year, there's the annual display of the calendars for the coming year on sale in bookstores and grocery stores.  For $12 to $15, the purchaser can obtain a monthly changing work of art for the wall.  And, with it, put her or his cultural tastes on the line for others to see.

There are the tame subject matters, often selected by middle-class homes and classrooms: pictures of dogs, kittys, horses, natural scenery.

And for guys (and gals leaning in that direction), there's the swimsuit calendars; the most widely sold being the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar.  And, with smaller production values and usually with smaller circulations, there's the university- or sports team-specific calendars:

Kansas_University

University_of_Kentucky

Sometimes these stir up controversy:

Central Michigan

But, mostly, controversy is free publicity that drives up sales.

I'm sure there will be others.  I just wanted to make the point.

And then there are the art calendars; especially favoring the Impressionists and the Preraphaelites.  I'm sure there are a few that include German Expressionism; and (who knows) maybe even Soviet Realism.  And unusual interests:

Steampunk

Underwater Dogs

I wonder if someone will come up with really grotesque ones.  To my knowledge, a calendar dedicated to controversial art works has not been marketed.  Howver, Manet's Olympia and Goya's Disasters of War should surely be included.  Maybe they might even make space for Robert Mapplethorpe or Andres Serrano; even though (in my opinion) their fame rests on a succès de scandale and not on any enduring value.

RyanAir Cabin Crew made a calendar, with the proceeds going to charity:



How about a calendar honoring a tavern:



Or Jersey Guys:




But wouldn't the last frontier be a Members of Congress Swimsuit Calendar?  Can you imagine Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell or David Vitter decked out in a speedo?  Or how about Nancy Pelosi in a bikini?  Are you ready for some lunch now?









11 comments:

Atomic Dog said...

If RyanAir has flight crew members that look like that, I'd fly them!

I hope they do a 2014 edition.

TexWisGirl said...

i have my charity and nature ones. the others i buy at dollar general for $1. :)

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

I miss the old drug store free calendars; but I like those
Ryanair ones! It's worth Googling the others.

John A Hill said...

Perhaps we need a Women of the Blogosphere Swimsuit Calendar. I would volunteer to act as the collector of the submitted photos and assemble them into a 2014 calendar to be distributed to our fellow bloggers.

Contact info is in my profile.

Your humble servant,
John

Big Sky Heidi said...

An excellentidea, John!

There was some interest in a Montana Girls calendar up here too.

John A Hill said...

Feel free to send your finest pics via email or text message. Info on my blog. Requests for calendars can be made the same way.

Mike said...

You would think the Tilted Kilt would be a calendar of guys.

Cloudia said...

Nice survey of the market




ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
=^..^= <3

MarkD60 said...

One year, my wife and I made a calendar, we used our own photos, put everyone in the family's birthday on it, and gave them away to all our family and friends. It was very popular and got a lot of compliments.

Bilbo said...

I really don't care which pictures are on the calendar, as long as it has more than one weekend per week.

Brandi said...

I'm at Jax State, and we get overlooked when it comes to calendars.