Has anyone been to Sears lately? Sears bought out Land's End and started selling their merchandise in their store. No problem there...but they come up with this logo they have displayed through out the store...you can see it in this link:

Land\'s End in Sears

I was at Portland Head last summer and it was all white. I've not heard or seen of any color change since then so I have to believe that it is a touched up image.

Is this some sort of marketing ploy? Any guesses as to why the true image wasn't satisfactory?

Is the lighthouse somehow more appealing because it has stripes rather than plain white?

If they were going to add stripes, wouldn't red have been even more appealing than black. In their marketing research, didn't they know that we Harbour Lights collectors have tended to favor those pieces that have more red in them?

Kelloggs also did a corn flakes ad back in the 1940's with Portland Head having red stripes.

The Lightkeeper
Mike

Interesting question...

Why don't we just not say this is Portland Head...it's Bodie Head...

Bodie Head.... LOL

Doc,

Sometime in the past year there was an article, I believe, in LHD concerning what is happening. Lands End is a sponsor of ALF and the stripes were added to draw more attention to the light - a little creative leeway shall we say. If Coke can move Pigeon Point to Maine, Lands End can stripe Portland Head. . . .

I can say it got my attention but not in a positive way Dave. I think it is a little bit silly to change the way the lighthouse looks...it looks like a mutant Bodie Head is a great name!

I suspect it has to do with copyright. That by making a change to the way it looked, they would be able to establish a unique identity which could be copyrighted and prevent others from using that 'striped' version.

Well, in any event, I hope that the Portland Head group gets a nice royalty or donation for this use of its image.

I saw that photo a few months or so ago. I felt offended that they would "doctor-up" a photo of such a beautiful place. Why didn't they just take a picture of it and put it in the ad? The public has a right of access so one would think there is no infringement if you took your own pic. Maybe they should have made a little donation to the light to secure their right to use it.

Bob

Seems that earlier this year McDonald's had a clip of Bodie Island in a commercial and defined it as "a New England Lighthouse." You folks on the OBX better keep a sharp lookout, seems them Yankees and their big business buddies may be conspiring to move yer light.

Heck Bob, we Yankees have plenty of our own lighthouses, lots more than the OBX, so we shouldn't need to steal any!!!

On our recent trip along the coast of Maine we stopped in a Comfort Inn and in the hotel folder in the room there an ad that talked about New England lighthouses being plentiful... The only problem was that the attached picture was of Coquille lighthouse...

What's wrong with that picture!!!

I think some people are "lighthouse challenged", Paul. They love lighthouses but they have no idea which light is which. Those are the same people that will buy "motel-art" of a ficticious light and be very happy with it. Instead they should do a little research and buy a print of a real lighthouse.

I'm sure advertising firms like to come up with lighthouse ads but don't take the time to check if in fact the light they are using is from the area they are advertising in. The picture of the light made them smile so that was good enough.

Bob