but that doesn't mean they are used for a wide variety of products or services. We see them working for the printing and telecom sectors, on a rare occasion for a conference or trade fair, and finally once each for a car, a medical application, or a piece of design furniture. Chameleons are chosen for their ability to change color. This trick is then associated with the product which, with one exception (2), cannot change color or anything else. It usually just means that one can choose the color in which the product is delivered. And sometimes the color change has to evoke customer friendliness (6), or a dynamic market (9).

(1) shows a brand which deviates from the usual way of advertising a car, where one proudly lists technical and comfort features. The only technical highlight mentioned in the text is the rear windscreen wiper with washer. That could have been quite something in 1991, but it is remarkable that the rest of the message is almost entirely about the many colours one can choose from when purchasing this specific vehicle. It may be an original approach, but the text is no less cringey than many others (freely from Dutch):

… I feel so happy that I am blushing. You would for less … The car is available in four colours, each decorated with a two-tone stripe. The interior is lined with a beautiful gray fabric with green-orange-black piping. … Like I told you, you would blush for less. — Notice how the chameleon has taken on the colors mentioned in the text.

The car is available in 4 colours. Once you have chosen a color, you are stuck with it. It will not change. Chameleons, on the other hand, come in all shades of green and some can change their color impressively. So both differ precisely in their main feature. Therefore, the choice of animal does not seem entirely appropriate.

(2) where we Discover how you can easily use colors to help manage diabetes the choice for a chameleon is a trifle more appropriate. The device lets you know where your result is relative to your glucose limits using the colours adopted by the chameleon in the advert.

of the chameleons in our collection have been used to illustrate adaptability, or versatility. Advertisements from the printing (4-6) and telecom (7-8) worlds in particular use them for this purpose. But we also see the odd chameleon announcing confe­rences and trade fairs (9-10).

(4) dates from the time when matrix printers and continuous forms were still dominant due to the high price of the early laser printers. It is an advert for self-copying continuous form paper. Each layer had its own colour to make the flow of the many forms easier to manage. Hence the colours of the chameleon. But again, like in № 1, the animal may change its colours, the paper couldn't. But it was a versatile product.

all had to do with colour in one way or another. In the following examples it is only all about change, or adaptation. The colour-changing animal now illustrates any characteristic that can change: the customer approach, the terms of a contract, etc.

The roadshow of suppliers for print (5) says it all: Companies that respond to change are the ones that thrive. Change the way you manage your business to maximise your profits. Nothing in the text refers to the chameleon standing there as an exclamation: Change! The same holds true for the printing house of № 6. No textual reference to the animal which evokes the personal touch.

Again no reference to the animal in The tariff plan that adapts to your usage (7) and again the chameleon means adaptation, though everyone has the same contract terms. We stay in the telecom sector with the private telephone exchange designed for the versatility of your com­munications (8). Here too, the animal represents adaptation, but unlike the previous example, the product does come with customized options. Therefore the chameleon here is more appropriate.

to changing circumstances? (9) is about a conference where you will learn to deal with what the organizer calls turbulence which means that the market is con­stantly moving. The elucidation makes no reference to the chameleon, but Darwin is dragged into it with (from Dutch): And once again Darwin is proven right: those who do not adapt in time will die out. Which is suggesting that evolution is a consciously directed process. Business appli­cation of Darwin's theory tend to forget that changes (mutations) occur constant­ly and are random; some may be letal even. The chameleon, probably chosen for its colour changes, must stand for the company capable of managing the turbulence.

(10) because this trade fair will bring together the latest devel­opments in the agro-alimentary sector. Any species that looks primarily green would do. Other than color, there is no reference to any characteristic of the chameleon.

In the previous adverts the argumentation for choosing a chameleon wasn't already particularly strong, but in our next examples I can only guess about the why.

where the prospective customer may choose to customize the furniture to his taste. I am not sure what natura creativa (in Italian) alludes to. The subtitle your nature (in English) suggests it is about the client's creativity. However, the text body of the advertisement suggests that this is about something else (from Italian):

What exists in Nature is perfect in itself. Elite furniture is born from a deep admiration for the qualities of Nature. Qualities that you can discover by transforming your space with the shapes and materials of Elite creations.

This is clearly a reference to Mother Nature and therefore a variation on the theme of learned from mother nature, a theme we see often in more technical products such as cars. And as is often the case with these types of references, there is something wrong with the reasoning. The first sentence could be a contamination by Darwin's survival of the fittest, but is in any case incorrect. It is enough to look at the human species — e.g. our old age ailments — to immediately understand that this statement is not true.

The question remains who the chameleon is. Not the customer, for sure, because of the your nature, meaning that he remains himself. Is it the design? But that would mean that the designer does not radiate his own style. Hardly a good selling point. Is it the furniture? But that doesn't change either; it remains as it is composed. Let's just assume it is a half-failed attempt to point to the many options (same problem as in f.e. № 1).

(3) is the recto of an advertise­ment for printing paper. The other side shows the same blue butterfly in an underwater scene surrounded by bright orange fish (see the verso). The advert certainly raises questions. Knowing that the printability is perfect and that colour flats are very uniform, who needs the magic? The chameleon, or the butterfly? What is the expected effect of the magic? Why did the chameleon disappear after the magic (I assume the verso shows the situation afterwards)? Has the chameleon turned into bright fish schooling? Then the magic must have worked on the chameleon; also because the butterfly looks exactly the same? But how must we interpret the copy on the verso which opens with (in French) If you want to feel like you have wings in your profession …? But the butterfly has wings already, and the chameleon has transformed into fish without wings. And actually this sentence speaks to the reader, the printing professional. Does he need the magic? Sigh, I am lost.

• Turtle
• Snake
• Chameleon
• Other reptiles