Patagonia creates an ad that's a palindrome

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/02/patagonia-creates-an-ad-thats-a-palindrome.html

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See also this poem from February 2019:

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That Refuge one is a gut punch. But so well crafted, and if it reaches just one person…

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Neat but is it a palindrome though?

Peel’s foe, not a set animal, laminates a tone of sleep.
A man, a plan, a canal - Panama

…they’re palindromes. They read the same backwards as forwards.

I’m just being that guy.

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It’s not a palindrome, though it’s palandrome-like I suppose.

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And I am a snake head eating
The head on the opposite side

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That’s okay. This time you’re the guy that is right. It’s not a palindrome. It is a semordnilap.

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I palindrome I.

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Clever, but I can’t help but feel it’s just using the climate crisis to sell expensive outdoor gear. Patagonia may be better than most, but it’s hard to deny that their clientele is largely well-heeled white folk who don’t want to be reminded that their conspicuous overconsumption is a part of the problem.

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Ooh, now do one about Patagonia using Uyghur slave labor.

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Reverse poetry.

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Yep. This is kind of a reverse/inverted/anti palindrome; the meaning is diametrically opposed depending on if you read beginning to end or end to beginning.

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These AREN’T PALINDROMES.

Palindromes operate on letters, not words, and NOT lines.

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Neither of the examples is a palindrome. A palindrome is a word or series of words that read identically either forward or backward. “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.” So happy to know someone else is not afraid to be “that guy.” We are losing our language!

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Not like a palindrome at all! Patagonia doesn’t know how to use the word.

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Thank you for this. I was wondering what I was missing. Reading each LINE whole but in reverse order makes it makes sense. But being a palindrome, I tried letters and then words and then just gave up because whole lines doesn’t jive with the idea. Playing a country song in reverse isn’t a palindrome but each action in reverse, gets you your truck, your dog, your lover, your house, and your family back.

Instructions unclear. Message lost by the time I got to it.

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Just finished the Refuge ones – that is some powerful stuff.

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Thanks. I thought I was going mad, or that the images were cropped weirdly.

Now I get it. These are super-duper not palindromes. Just clever bits of verse that make (different sorts of) sense when read downward and upward.

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Man, TIL people are really invested in the definition of “palindrome”. I mean, we probably should have a term for this kind of paragraph, where sentences can be read in both directions, to avoid confusion, but “like a palindrome” works for now.

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The proper term for this style is “reverse poetry”. Searching on Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo will deliver a slew just for the current pandemic.

EDIT: My suggestion for an improved title? Patagonia creates an ad that uses reverse poetry.

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