Missing Prada Handbag

A message on the subway sign said: Missing Prada Handbag. It was written on a torn paper bag and taped to the pole. I thought if a person could afford Prada handbags, in the first place, why did the person use a paper bag and masking tape to write their sign? You would think that if you had the means to own a Prada handbag, you would be sending out text messages, calling a number to place a billboard ad, making flyers and hiring people to pass them around.
Maybe it was a joke? Someone might have been playing a trick on all of us here in Seattle as a way to humor us. Some people wear a designer handbag on their arm as a part of their wardrobe everyday, but I would say that many people here in this tech-ie town wouldn’t be able to tell you where the closest Prada handbag store was. They would however, know where to buy a designer handbag online in a millisecond.

The rest of the street that I was standing on was a clean street, free of litter and crowded with morning commuters. Most of them in this city wore grays, blacks, blues and dark earth tones. Most of the time it is raining in this city and people don’t look up to often- but if the "LOST Prada handbags, " sign was big enough, people would definitely take notice, especially at a bus stop or outside an espresso stand.

Then I thought, this must be a new form of guerilla advertising. A small group of young advertisers, paid for their art and new ideas on how to get people’s attention, storming the streets after dark and taping up "lost" Prada Handbag and "stolen" D&G purses signs, just to get average people on the street to take notice. Most often, if someone is willing to make the effort to create an ad for something that is missing, it must mean that it is important. It must mean something to someone, it must have some value. Plus, most people know already that designer handbags like Prada and D&G purses are expensive to begin with. Made for high fashion, with cutting edge colors, fabrics and designs, these designer handbags stand out in a crowd.

Soon, billboards would be just a photo of a torn paper bag that reads "Lost D&G purse," so that drivers look up and take notice. Where had the purse gone? Is there a shortage of designer handbags? Especially D&G and Prada? With enough guerilla paper bag ads circling the city streets of Seattle, LA, New York and Chicago, suddenly it would become the unending advertisement that even non-advertisers would suddenly mimic.

Soon, people would be taking it light-heartedly and laughing with their co-workers as they placed "lost latte" paper bags around the office and the water cooler. Sticky-pad companies would launch a new line of paper-bag looking notes to stick everywhere to get everyone’s attention. Saturday Night Live would have their own skit of super models taping giant paper bags to the side of a building with the words "Lost Prada Handbag." It would become a phenomenon beyond the scope of regular advertising. After all, the pushing a brand concept in people’s faces isn’t working like it used to. The advertising of a product needs to be the "next big thing" and less like what everyone has at the moment. Advertisers want to subliminally sneak their product onto a Myspace video or onto the arm of a famous actress walking the red carpet.

I thought about all the energy I was putting into one paper note, ripped from a paper grocery bag. Of course, it could have only been a spontaneous sign, written as a reminder of where a designer handbags, was stolen and to remind others not to leave their valuables unattended on the subway. Or a friendly reminder to everyone out there with a designer bag to watch out for thieves.

About the author: Melissa Peterman is a web content specialist for Innuity. For more information about Prada handbags, D&G purses and designer handbags, go to designerdirectoutlet.com.