Cosmo Brachetti Peretti
My name is Cosmo Brachetti Peretti and I am a first year student in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Being Italian I’ve returned to my hometown, Rome, and have been spending the past month of quarantine here.
About my collection
For my archiving I will track the changes and trends of advertisement and publicity in the Italian press. It will be interesting to see how this changed from February till now, what rhetoric was used, what products advertised, what position taken on the impending crisis. Furthermore, I will also collect images unrelated to commercial advertisement in the Italian press which I found compelling and interesting. Lastly, I have decided to document how the streets have changed during the times of Covid-19, by focusing on the signs and posters one can find walking around. Most of these images are gathered from the internet, sent by friends, or my own photographs from the few times I went out. Walking around to take pictures is currently not allowed, but these images show how the Italian people have tried to give themselves and each other some hope, to call for (distanced) unity and to promote the #stayathome campaign.
Browse Collections
Advertisements in the Italian Press
"Nothing will be the same. We will have understood that distances between continents and men don't exist. We will have understood that no wall or border can stop solidarity. We will have understood that the only resource capable of saving humanity is humanity. We will live in a world where there's a future for everyone, when all of this has passed."
"In this battle differences don’t exist. Each one of us can do his part, no matter how big or small. What is important is to help others and respect the safety of everyone. Be strong Italy, we are making history. Yesterday the mask was used to hide behind. Today [it is used] as protection. Tomorrow [it will be used] to show who we are. Help us support those who will never give up.”
Joy will return to fill our hearts when Italy can embrace again
"Nothing will be the same. We will have understood that distances between continents and men don't exist. We will have understood that no wall or border can stop solidarity. We will have understood that the only resource capable of saving humanity is humanity. We will live in a world where there's a future for everyone, when all of this has passed."
Numerous organisations, including businesses, trade unions and non-profits, are investing in newspaper advertisements expressing their presence and solidarity and making statements about the future they envision. There is also a lot of visual use of the Italian flag, as well as words of reassurance and calls to action eg. #stayathome and #everythingwillbealright (translations) have become the most trending hashtags in Italy). There is also an increase in advertisements for alcohol such as prosecco, which is puzzling as prosecco is used for celebrations. Is this increase in advertisements for alcohol a result of increased demand for and consumption of alcohol during social distancing?
Images in the Italian Press
"Obviously I could only represent one of the many people who are in the front line in these groups to defend ourselves from this terrible emergency, I opted for a nurse who takes a well-deserved break and exclaims:" Ah! Finally fresh air..."
"The Archbishop of Milan Delpini: You can be close even if you stay away"
“Resist, resist and...resist again. With you, I resist the storm through a glass. I remember the contact, the warmth of a kiss. I remember the power of an embrace that passes through glass, which runs madly for miles and miles, like a flower bullet that knows exactly where to hit."
"Obviously I could only represent one of the many people who are in the front line in these groups to defend ourselves from this terrible emergency, I opted for a nurse who takes a well-deserved break and exclaims:" Ah! Finally fresh air..."
Street Signs
The lights on the building read, "Stay at home."
"When they intubated my father, I thought about that walk I needed avoided." The less we go out, the sooner we go out.
The handmade sign tells passersby, who are presumably breaking social distancing by being out on the street, to stay at home, insulting them with a colorful Italian swearword.
The lights on the building read, "Stay at home."