August 15, 2005

Curious George: Yahoo beheads spokesmodel. Why? I remember enough from business school to believe that Yahoo chose and placed the photo on its mail welcome screen with tremendous care. The pretty--possibly non-existent--woman of no particular ethnicity has been there for a couple of years.

Big cash and long hours are devoted to managing subtle spects of the customer experience. Corporations of that size, chillingly, think through every imaginable variable on a page like this. I remember a friend asking help with a work project by choosing between a couple of dozen near-identical ads for "upsells and cross-sells" to appear on the welcome screen of a large credit card company. She spent hours on the choice, interviewed friends, and passed the three finalists up to her superior. The tiny differences in color and font in the ads were the objects of intense scrutiny by the non-designers of the marketing department. But what principle of advertising, marketing, cultural sensitivity, branding, or customer psychology led them to cut off the top of a woman's head ?[Yahoo link] A brief Google search convinces me that I am not the only fan of 85% of her face. I'm open to any theory, but I must confess some resistance to the idea that it is oversight.

posted by Phred 18 years ago
  • Because aliens from Omicron Perseus IV use Yahoo to spy on us via the internets and they want to hide the tentacles on her head! Duh.
  • Female pattern baldness?
  • Here is a link for those who care http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001173.htm
  • My dad had a theory some years back that it was the increasing objectification of the human body. He noticed that increasingly, boutiques and department stores were using only partial models to display clothes; just a torso, without arms or legs and sometimes without a complete head. You still have complete shop dummies, but alot of the brands that market to a younger demographic tend to have incompletely bodied dummies. He also noticed that in advertisements, where complete human figures could once be seen enjoying or showing off the products (all the way to the early 80s), nowadays it's more common to just see certain relevant body parts: hands, profile of a face, eyes, lips, hips or lower torso etc.... He thinks people are being encouraged by the advertising industry to think of the human body more as a thing than a complete being.
  • The yahoo link redirects me to yahoo.ca, the Canadian version, which has no woman's head on it.
  • Also, from a design point of view, a face pictured with the top of the head cut off visually appears closer to the viewer. Perhaps they were trying to convey a feeling of friendliness, or some such.
  • Here's a screenshot for those who can't see it otherwise. I think Alnedra's Dad has a real point, but I'm not sure this is a particularly good example of it. The Yahoo Mail Lady is also cut off at the shoulders, after all, and that doesn't even merit comment. At least you can see her entire face, which is more than you often get from marketing photos, particularly photos of women. Maybe there's just a changing perception of what counts as "cut off." Maybe it's the creeping influence of the widescreen / banner-ad aesthetic. Maybe they tried it with the picture shrunk enough to fit in the layout, but preferred the larger face that this version has. This picture never bothered me. When Yahoo last redesigned this page (in response to the debut of Google Mail) and added this picture, my question was: Why is there a photo of a woman there at all?
  • If you look at photography guides, they often advise cutting off the top of a person's head rather than crowding the bottom and eliminating the neck or chin. It makes for a better shot. Perhaps the wisdom is now that it's better to cut off the top even if there is no space/framing concern, but do try it. It sounded like strange advice till you start framing shots with that in mind. What Koko says could be the factor -- maybe this is more photo-like as well.
  • Alnedra, can't help but think those cropped mannequins are in part due to photography and to tv and its innumerable close-ups. Prior to the introduction of cameras asymetrical/cropped bodies and faces seem to have been far less frequent. Perhaps it's related to the way pictures have been framed or bordered in book and magazine illustrations -- frames in some period were commonly a part of an illustration, while in more modern times this is often dispensed with.
  • Wait, were complaining that we can't see the top quarter inch on her forehead? That's dehumanizing? I guess hats are dehumanining too, right?
  • You think the lady is bad... what the hell is up with this?! Also... I remember in college working as a survey taker for a summer. One of our gigs was that we would go to a movie theater where they were showing the Pentium chip commercials before the Previews. In half of the theaters, the commercial played with the "Bong!!!! dumdumdumdum!!!" in the other half... no Bong. After the movie, we asked general questions to the exiting movie goers to see what ads they remembered, if they had any positive or negative thoughts on the ads they saw, or if anything "popped" for them. (Apparently Pentium was concerned that the "Bong!!" was pissing people off.) The only thing that I was able to conclusively determine, however, is that ads before movies piss people off regardless of the advertiser... way to go, Ad execs!!!
  • bees, that would definitely be a factor. But even up to the early 1980s, many advertisements made use of fairly complete human figures (at least three quarters), and cameras had been common for a while by then. Aesthetically, though I agree with Koko. Sometimes removing the top part of the head enhances a shot, by possibly eliminating a distracting fringe, or too high a forehead?
  • They completely replaced her head with an evil, leering smiley monster.... AHHHHH!!!!
  • I don't get that image of her either, btw. I get this. I guess it's still complaint-worthy, though. Who knows what could ontop of her head? I NEED CLOSURE!
  • I have a strong feeling Occam's razor applies, here. I think the most likely explanation is that the designer or Art Director liked the photo, some executive agreed and thought it conveyed the friendliness they were going for, and the designer cropped the image because they wanted people to see her face better. I really don't think there's much more to it than that.
  • The solution to Debaser's issue is for multiplexes to offer popular movies in different theatres within a 'plex. One would show ads and charge $12, the other would have no ads and charge $15. I wonder which would be more popular?
  • ot: The multiplex with ads should be free. I'm not paying to watch commercials. If you want me to watch your commercial, you reward me for doing so. bot: Phred, do you have the same complaint about people who wear hats?
  • Based on the screenshot, the positioning of the head might be an attempt to create an illusion of depth in the framed blue field, as if one is looking through a window. Also, the top of the head would not impart any more information (subliminally or otherwise) than the image of the face already does. But I still prefer the alien tentacle theory.
  • they did it to catch attention... and it worked :) Seriously, Koko has it. It grabs your attention because it's framed oddly, and you don't just recognize it as a face and move on. You're drawn to look at it.
  • Cropping the top of a model's head in favor of a larger face shot seems to be in vogue.
  • The top of the head contains so much body language though! How is she supposed to convey her moods and thoughts? Shoulders don't contribute to body language, why are they included?
  • exciting photographs fill the entire frame with their subject. Think of the whole rectangle of each photograph as your canvas. Also, experiment with cropping in on your subject, sometimes cutting out legs, the top of somebody's head, anything to create a more surprising composition. I have two camera manuals here that say pretty much the same thing. This is common, folks.
  • THIS IS THE STUPIDEST FUCKING THING I'VE SEEN HERE YOU DIE NOW
  • I wonder what Chy is trying to say. If the top of his head wasn't chopped off, I'd be able to tell.
  • Hello? Hello, Chy, *crackle* you're *hiss* breaking up! Hello? *crinkle* If you can hear us,*pop* wave your *crackle* hand! Ok, a finger works just well.
  • Finger not working - listen for horn.
  • /finger
  • I'm not drunk enough.
  • Good thing she wasn't fat. Else they would have chopped her entire head off. You know, like they do on newscasts about the "obesity epedimic" where they show fat people on the street from the shoulders down to illustrate their point. Evidently that's the kinder, gentler way to shame people.
  • Off the top of my head, I say that Chy just blew his top.
  • Thanks kim.. Now I have the stupid "Lowered Expectations" theme in my head...
  • I seem to remember that when they started putting commercials on VHS tapes back in the day, the rationale was that the tapes would be cheaper to buy, since the advertiser was picking up part of the cost. I wonder why the same thing didn't apply to movie theaters showing commercials before the flicks--i.e., why didn't the ticket prices go down? WRT the main topic, I like my women like I like my Easter bunnies: thick, chocolate, tasty, and WITH NO FUCKING HEADS. Erm...I've said too much...
  • Why do we call 'em head shots when what we mean is face shots?
  • Actually, I just saw a news report that claimed movie prices would cost 1 or 2 dollars more without the ads. Personally, I think more people would go to the movies if there were no ads, and they could replace the revenue from the ads with volume of tickets sold.
  • Because a face shot is a very, very different thing.
  • Her smile is now at the exact centre of the photo. I think they wanted to draw attention to the smile, which would also explain the almost unnaturally white teeth.
  • She's a jerk. She mocks me every time I access my account. "You again? You know you have no friends. Why do you keep checking your email? You really are desperate. Have you thought of buying some new clothes, or getting a makeover? I'm only trying to help because you look so sad!" GOD I HATE HER!!!!!
  • Maybe Jose Canseco needed a replacement top. /baseballdork
  • I, on the other hand, think more people would go to the movies if the ticket prices were lower. Even if it meant more ads. I hear Palmiero's moustache is fake, too.
  • Drink some more Chryen. That way, tomorrow you'll understand this thread, because you'll feel like the top of your head's coming off.
  • Cropping the top of a model's head in favor of a larger face shot seems to be in vogue. It's also in Vogue (mouseover the links).
  • That "news" report wasn't news. It was propoganda to keep us complacent, sitting on our asses instead of taking it to the streets. (Theatres make their money from concession stand sales. Ticket prices genereate revenue for the studio, not the theatre. Ads generate revenue for the theatre, not the studio.)
  • Please, people, it's propaganda. Propaganda. Like in propagate? I see "propoganda" so often in Mefi that it makes me almost want to pay 5 bucks just to run in there screaming, "It's 3 As, you bunch of wieners!"
  • I propogate, Alnedra.
  • I would pay $5 just to see Alnedra call MeFi a bunch of weiners. wieners? weiners?
  • I give you mad praps.
  • Pedontry!
  • None for me thanks, I gestated.
  • MeFi could benefit greatly from the judicious application of Alnedra's 100 Ton Hammer™.
  • he hissed he teased the geese in grandeur he woz a most improper gander
  • well... i pooed... gander? gander?
  • Ach, urbanization speeds a-pace. hen, cock, chick goose, gander, gosling duck, drake, duckling ewe, ram, lamb cow, bull, calf bitch, dog, puppy mare, stallion, foal A lot of these older barnyard critters have a separate word for each gender and often for the young uns as well.
  • I would.
  • What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
  • Or in orginal form, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
  • Sorry, Mr. K. Just hit a particularly sensitive nerve of mine.
  • I just figured out why I don't like that picture. It's the tagline plus picture combo that looks like an attempt to "personalize" it by "putting a human face on technology." It comes off as patronizing to me. Like "Look! This totally normal everyday non-geek person uses THE E MAIL to keep in touch with other totally normal everyday non-geek people! Do not fear THE E MAIL! THE E MAIL is your friend!" I don't care what you use Yahoo Mail for, Ms. Vaguely Sheryl Crow-Esque, just let me log in.
  • YOU JUST KNOW SHE TYPES EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS LIKE A TOTAL N00B. BY THE WAY HAS ANYONE SEEN QUIDNUNC LATELY?
  • quid is the latest celebrity over on mefi
  • from MeTa: Is MonkeyFilter like the MeFi farm team? I guess that makes MeFi the Barry Bonds of websites: surly, overpriced, full of itself, and on the disabled list more often than not.
  • Zing!
  • Oh SNAP!!
  • "It's 3 As, you bunch of wieners!" Hey, Alnadra said it, not me. *dodges hammar "Look! This totally normal everyday non-geek person uses THE E MAIL to keep in touch with other totally normal everyday non-geek people!" You mean, like, as opposed to the rest of us posting here? Who don't even KNOW any totally normal everyday non-geek people? Whatever.
  • QUIDDY CAN GET FUCKED, GODDAM TURNCOAT!!! God I love him...*sniff*
  • I don't hate Metafilter, but that was hilarious, drjimmy11.
  • If one of you stuck up bitches had agreed to be his girlfriend, we wouldn't be in this mess!
  • I offered myself to him on a regular basis. For some reason, da fish woint bitin'...
  • I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic, BlueHorse. So I will bow and scrape and apologize. *does so* Also, what Smo said.
  • I'm scared of GramMa. *sniffle* I actually wouldn't mind offering to be quid's girlfriend, but I have a feeling I would be cradle-snatching.
  • Do it, 'neddy, for the good of Monkeyfilter!! I'd do it, but then we'd have to find a girlfriend for Mr. Koko.
  • I'd offer, but I'm a taken woman. With two insane children.
  • Man, talk about taking one for the team...
  • It's all just subtle symbolism. The company obviously does to imply that models don't need the tops of their heads. You know, if Terri Schiavo can smile, the model with half of her head can smile.
  • I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic, BlueHorse. So I will bow and scrape and apologize. *does so*--Wurwilf I'm scared of GramMa. *sniffle* GramMa feels so bad now. Wilfy, I was trying to do teh funny. You're such a good boy to your GramMa. Alnedra, come sit on my lap, and I'll read to you from The Giant Book of Pandas. *throws apron over head in shame
  • Where's moneyjane when teh MoFi needs her
  • I don't get what was said about quidnunc on MetaFilter. Can someone elaborate?
  • He made a funny comment and someone made a MeTa post about how much they liked it. Now that he's a hit playing the big room he'll be doing a lot less slumming here in the lavender lounge.
  • Then he can take his chances with Colin...
  • He made a funny comment and someone made a MeTa post about how much they liked it. I saw that. It reminded me of a bunch of monkeys standin' around starin' at an obelisk, except the quid is monkey, not an obelisk.
  • Like cows round a baby in a field.
  • Like hungry, hungry hippos 'round the last marble.
  • Monkeyfilter complains about a Yahoo Mail page design, Yahoo Mail overhauls the design just a few days later. What are the odds?
  • I was bored while reading this post (not because of the post, honestly) and played around with my.yahoo.com a bit. Its MacOS support is utter rubbish. Seriously. Some of the organiser features could be quite useful for me -- if they worked under anything but Safari 1.2.
  • Well, they've changed their logo. WTF are they thinking??
  • Now that's marketing! Some people just get it.
  • Blargh!