The Fitzgerald: Harlem Lodging
Copyranter (via Curbed) brought this development to our attention. Being marketed as “Harlem Lodging” complete with Elk/Moose horns as the logo, potential “prey” are those who don’t “follow the herd.” The neighborhood history page is particularly entertaining with the tag line, “Grow here. Everything else does.”
Referenced: Copyranter :: The Fitzgerald Condos
The Fitzgerald Condos|257 117th Street|212-381-2619
Related: Harlem State of Mind :: SoHo North ::
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Actually, I disagree. I think they are pitching to people who want to move away from the Upper West Side and into a more unique, interesting, creative neighborhood. To me, the man in the ad looks like the kind of guy you’d expect to see looking for places in the East Village, pre-yuppy Tribeca… Harlem ISN’T mainstream Manhattan, and that is why a lot of people like it. (By the way, I live in Central Harlem and I am a White Female Lawyer).
Actually, I disagree. I think they are pitching to people who want to move away from the Upper West Side and into a more unique, interesting, creative neighborhood. To me, the man in the ad looks like the kind of guy you’d expect to see looking for places in the East Village, pre-yuppy Tribeca… Harlem ISN’T mainstream Manhattan, and that is why a lot of people like it. (By the way, I live in Central Harlem and I am a White Female Lawyer).
This has racist overtones and strikes with my as very slick & veiled, however nontheless at the end of the day offensive. (1) The white male figure is not your i-banker character or similar young corporate professional in Manhattan. (2) The emphasis is on psychological orientation – it’s as if you have to preface and frame the mind of the person before you present them a Harlem property (a thought so shocking, mental conditioning is a prerequisite). (3) The guy is a Jim Morrison look-a-like, further driving the point of “rebel”.
The racism? This ad in word and look is so focused on a separation from the Manhattan “norm” it discriminates. Just look at the color tones used in the ad. Why no smile?
Why can’t smiling happy shiney people who are corporately groomed be the image and face and also the person to appeal to?
The ad looks like an ad for men’s cologne, men’s clothing, or perhaps a motorcyle. The ad demonstrates who Halstead is targeting the property to and excludes the possibility that a White Female Lawyer or Accountant or anything would be fit the property.
Is this level and measure of narrow-casted psychological reaffirming necessary to present a property on 117th Street? Does it no strike as a bit over the top? Why can’t the image be the Ivy League Professor that works at Colubia and walks to their office?
The ad is offensive to me because it affirms the property is not suitable for the NYC Mainstream (after all, it’s Harlem). You have to be a rebel, bold, daring, run counter to suitable Manhattan culture to move here.