Come With A Story, Leave With Another

The best thing about a library is that when you’re done reading one book, you can just trade it in for another. This way, you never have to run out of new titles to enjoy and you never have to pay a cent for the privilege of borrowing a book – provided you return your rentals on time. But how do you advertise that benefit without actually spelling it out to your target audience? Well, Colombia advertising company Lowe/SSP3 found a pretty good way to do so for the Colsubsidio Book Exchange with these clever ads that use the slogan “Come in With a Story and Leave With Another.” Can you recognize the books being referenced below?

It’s elementary, my dear Snow White

Just in case you need a little help, here are the answers – The top one, my personal favorite (and easiest to decipher), is Snow White with Sherlock Holmes. The second, that would be Little Red Riding Hood partnering with Moby Dick. That one took me a while because the whale is so weirdly shaped. Lastly, we have Harry Potter paired with a Trojan horse.

Aside from the clever imagery, the great thing about these ads is that they remind you that no matter what kind of fiction you enjoy, fantasy, mystery, fairy tales, contemporary, classics, or antiquities, you’re sure to find whatever you’re looking for, not just at the Colsubsidio Book Exchange, but any local library you happen to visit. And that’s something every book lover can appreciate.

39 Replies to “Come With A Story, Leave With Another”

  1. snow white n a dude playing the sax
    lil red ridding hood n a whale
    harry potter n a trojan horse

    but i dont know what stories the hidden images refer to…

    1. dude playing sax(actually smoking pipe)is sherlock holmes
      whale is moby dick
      horse is the trojan horse

    2. Eric, the first pic is not a man playing the sax. its a image of Sherlock Holmes

    3. 1. Snow white and sherlock holmes (pipe not
      sax )
      2.lil red riding hood and Moby dick
      3. Harry potter and Troy

    4. “snow white n a dude playing the sax”

      I think you’ll find the ‘Dude’ is Sherlock Holmes complete with Deerstalker hat & and the ‘sax’ is his trademark [Tobacco smoking] pipe

    5. actually its snow white and sherlock holmes smoking a pipe, but thats just gettin picky

  2. Guessing the characters was easy but it’s impossible to answer your question (from which books are they) because these illusions offer too little clues.
    Perhaps you could enlighten us and tell us from which book the Sherlock Holmes shape comes. Is it from The Hound of the Baskervilles, A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four or from one of the many other books by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle?
    And the Trojan Horse is a character not a book. It is in fact from the Odyssey.

    1. If you are going to be that picky, perhaps you should get your facts right. The story of the Trojan horse (which is an object not a character )comes in fact from the Iliad- not the Odyssey.

  3. i never noticed the others until i said, hey, that looks like the trojan horse, or, is that sherlock holmes, or that looks like a whale.

  4. Snow White/Sherlock Holmes
    Little Red Riding Hood/Moby Dick?
    Harry Potter/The Trojan Horse of The Odyssey

    great images!

  5. i loved ’em.
    1st:Snow White & Sherlock Holmes
    2nd:Little Red Riding Hood & Moby Dick
    3rd:Harry Potter & The Trojan Horse

  6. I didn’t notice Sherlock Holmes’ shape within Snow White at all, until I read the descriptions of all three then it occurred to me to look for Sherlock Holmes. It was so clever I didn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary.

  7. Hi Jill,

    Sorry that I couldn’t find your email address from this site…was thinking leaving a comment here to have a chance to talk with you.

    Just wanted to let you know that the ‘submit illusion’ button on the bottom is not working. Was wondering is there any other way to submit a post for your review? perhaps…may i have your email address??

    Thanks for your time! Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards,
    Yang

    1. if you click on jill harness, beneath the title, you can find her info :D

  8. It is a GREAT marketing ad. For you “haters” out there, it doesn’t make any difference what Sherlock Holmes book it is and the whale could be Saving Willy or any other book about whales.

  9. Snow White and Sherlock Holmes.
    Little Red Riding Hood and Moby Dick.
    Harry Potter and The Trojan Horse.

  10. 1. snow white/dear sherlock holmes
    2.moby dick/red riding hood
    3.harry potter/trogan horse saga or helen of troy?
    i love this web page good mr v. you rock!

  11. all has been said except snow white’s hair resembles Mr Magoo head (anyone else here?). Surely it was by accident since it is a TV cartoon (not sure if there is any books from it too)

  12. I really love this images and I am doing an art project based on some of them it would be really nice to know who was the painter/designer of this media! Also does anyone know what media has been used? Thanks! :)

  13. Why could it not be something i could show my gf that she,d understand? I thinks its very cool but hard to see right of the bat.

  14. 1>Snow White >Man playing sax or smoking
    2>Ariel the mermaid>Whale
    3>Harry Potter>horse back
    Thank You,
    Anna Hennerick

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