Attack Of The Vampire Stapler
This old safety poster for Northwestern Bell Phone Company is one of the greatest things I’ve seen in days. Weeks maybe. I salvaged it from the trash compactor only yesterday.
It reads: “A Nightmare Of Pain: Attack of the Vampire Stapler”.
…the story of a mild-mannered stapler, who turns into a vicious vampire, when handled incorrectly…causing hand injuries to Northwestern Bell employees.
Also starring: Priscilla Fine Point, Boris Karloffice, and featuring Bella La Razor
Rated PR
A simple safety message — be careful when you use you stapler, so that you don’t hurt yourself — is turned into an effective communication tool with the use of some humor.
You bet.
I mean, how freaking cool is that? We have dozens of these safety posters hanging around; I’ve even designed some of the damn things, and I don’t even read ‘em.
So this novel approach — turning the safety message into a fake horror movie poster — grabs the readers’ eye and gets them to read it.
Maybe I’m off here, but this is great stuff. I’m not even going to interject my usual smart-ass remarks to make something stupid into something slightly less stupid. I think this is awesome on its own.
January 26th, 2005 at 8:10 am
That is the kind of office poster I would want to do if I was allowed.
What? No other comments? Are we too big for this poster? You all know you’ve done the stapler-safety posters; we just don’t like to admit it! That poster? That poster’s a work of genius.
January 26th, 2005 at 8:39 am
The fact that the poster was still in the office says a lot about how great it is. I’m guessing a lot of other safety posters were hung up and taken down in that time period.
January 26th, 2005 at 8:45 am
Does this baby have a date on it?
January 26th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
October 25, 1955.
January 26th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
I think you mean November 5, 1955, Nate. Or am I wrong to assume that was a Back to the Future reference? You bet.
I’m not sure of the actual date of the poster. There’s no copyright anywhere, and no printing ID. Hmmm. I’d place it from the mid 80′s though — I’m pretty sure Northwestern Bell is one of the “Baby Bells” that resulted from the breakup of AT&T in the early 1980′s…so it can’t be any older than that.
January 26th, 2005 at 3:28 pm
I’m not above admitting I blew that reference. After a little fact checking, the movie (the first, good movie) BEGINS on October 25, 1985. I let that cloud my better judgement, like Carmen Electra selling Fararis covered in whipped creame and metled chocolate.
August 2nd, 2005 at 7:39 am
This is a great poster, any chance you can provide a high resolution image so I can use it as this month’s safety poster at work? Thanks