Get Rid of That Hairy Arm!

Ever had a client or even a manager interrupting and delaying jobs by insisting on last-minute changes? Then you may want to consider this strategy employed by advertising artists known as The Hairy Arm Tactic. According to the mythology, a graphic artist named Joe had a client who was forever insisting on “stupid changes.” Then something odd started happening: each time the client was presented with a newly photographed layout, he’d encounter the image of Joe’s arm at one edge of the frame, partly obscuring the ad. The client would look at it and yell: ‘What the hell is that hairy arm doing in there?’“ Joe would apologize for the slip-up. And then, as the client was stalking self-righteously away, muttering, “You gotta watch these guys like a hawk,” Joe would say: “When I remove the arm, can we go into production?” And the client, content to have made his mark, would call over his shoulder, “Yes, but get that arm out of there first!”