Bioshock > Miscellany > Advertising

Advertising

Introduction

As a city founded on commerce, Rapture has advertising all over the city. The advertisements come in the form of billboards, floor placards, posters, and brand names on boxes and other containers.

Internal

common

The motto of Affordable Endings is Haven't You Already Paid Enough?

Plasmi-Quik was to be the brand name of the active plasmids, evidently, as well as the gene banks that let you swap plasmids and gene tonics for a price. The name, and the price scheme, was dropped in the final version. A poster for Plasmi-Quik survives in the apothecary (drugstore to Americans) in the metro lobby of Fort Frolic.

The Health Medical Corporation not only manufactures Plasmi-Quik, but also the Vitastat first-aid kits and the Prime Health Unit first-aid stations.

The Bioshock wiki claims an ad for coffee (You can sleep when you're dead!), but I have never found it in the game myself.

medical pavilion

Dr. Steinman has several poster ads for his services throughout the Medical Pavilion. (Broken-nose types, ask about his comprehensive rhinoplasty service.) The main theme of these posters is, With Adam there is no excuse not to be beautiful. It is also the main theme of the level, only the meaning of the slogan has changed into something more sinister, written in the blood of his victims.

Fontaine also advertised his Dandy Dentures dental practice with a big pair of choppers. This was in fact a front for selling the Telekinesis plasmid, which Ryan continued after Fontaine was gone.

Other practices that advertised are Painless Dental (We're There When It Hurts) and the Kure-All clinic.

arcadia/farmer's market

Farmer's Market displays its own advertisements for its fresh produce on its store fronts.

At the Richards store is a sign, which is easy to knock down and therefore hard to notice. It advertises an out-of-business sale with 50% off all produce. Evidently the war has hit the Market badly.

There is also a poster announcing The Big Game between the Stingers and the Sea Bulls, American football teams whose remnants now patrol the quarter. On the posters are tapes announcing "Cancelled Due To Fire".

fort frolic

Fort Frolic has posters for Sander Cohen's blockbuster plays Bedtime Surprise, Happy Chappy (also playing at the Footlight Theater) and Patrick And Moira, a tale of love from beyond the grave, which inspired Fontaine (who had the poster in Atlas' HQ in Hestia Suites) to make up a wife and kid in their name.

Other shows had posters as well, especially a limited time engagement for pole-dancer Jasmine Jolene Andrew Ryan's Favorite Gal! The Fleet Theater marquee is itself an advertisement: Andrew Ryan presents – The Kickettes – 2 Weeks Only.

There are neon signs all around the Atrium, advertizing not only the Fleet Hall, but also Eve's Garden, Bella Mia High Fashion (a closed shop in the Southern Mall), Sir Prize (casino), Cohen's Collection (art gallery), and two signs of that fool in the porter suit carrying a gift box. The guy also has his own ads of him presenting said box with the slogan For That Special Gift.

There is also a general advertisement, proclaiming, Oh-boy, what a floor show, every night!

fontaine's charities

There are also posters for Fontaine's two charities, The Little Sisters Orphanage (bringing big smiles to little faces), featuring a chubby-cheeked little girl in a frilly blouse; Fontaine's Home for the Poor, showing one hand giving a dollar coin to another; and both under the title Fontaine's Helping Hands, showing a faceless Fontaine holding the little girl and a down-and-out guy, each holding a sign with the name of their respective charities.

Ironically, the only place the Home for the Poor poster appears is inside the Bistro in Olympus Heights.

miscellany

There is one poster extolling Rapture: Tomorrow's Promise Kept Today! It is in Atlas' headquearters. On the poster is a headshot of Ryan used as a dartboard.

In contract, plastered on the walls of Arcadia/Farmers Market, Olympus Heights and Apollo Square are posters of Atlas, standing tall with arms akimbo, with the words WHO IS ATLAS? The posters also come from Atlas' headquarters, which have several printing presses that print out nothing but the posters.

The greatest of all ironies are the murals in the metro station in Fort Frolic. Under the phrase We Ascend: Rapture, a woman views various symbols of the city ascending. The irony is that the woman could be a prophesy of the Big Sister, who with her powers really could make the city rise. But that will not be confirmed until Bioshock 2.

External

The external advertisements consist of lighted signs that hang from the outside of buildings and are meant to be viewed from bathyspheres. The signs are generally unreadable when you look out of most windows. But there are some windows, like the first and second floors of Fort Frolic's Poseidon Plaza in front of Eve's Garden, or like the windows of the tramway in front of Artemis Suites and Hestia Suites in Apollo Square. The signs are rather quirky.

You will remember Sinclair's as the place where the whacko ninja splicers lie in wait.

There are also ads for the following fine products and services.

• Vine Ripe Fresh Fruit
• Annie's Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
• Fat Cat Lounge
• Heller News (daily and evening editions)
• Lisa's Candies
• Cinema Réal (with 4 screens!)
• Nate's guns, ammo, targets

And also some brands named Lentz and Anton.