You have to hand it to those advertising boffins. Here we are deep in the midst of a recession...and some bright spark decides that what Saks really needs at this point are shopping bags which hark back to the propaganda art of the Soviet Union in the 1920's. You can almost hear the marketing meeting...

"No...you see...it will be ironic...comparing the current climate in the US with post-war Russia...a Russia with "almost total economic collapse, famine and bitter discontent". Won't shoppers see the delicious incongruity and biting wit and flock to the stores to lay down their hard earned cash?"

The sad thing (for me at least) is that I actually do like the design...which was created by Shepard Fairey (the artist behind the Barack Obama 'Hope' poster)...but the overall theme just seems a little tasteless and over-the-top at the moment...an advertising crossroads where 20's despair meets 80's decadence, but does the road lead to shopping nirvana?