Credit Line Shoppopotamus
the art
Holiday season parody, hyperbole and sardonicism. Credit Line
appears every Thanksgiving and vanishes on December 25th. She is
said to exist in the commercial/financial computer networks during
the rest of the year. She carries over ten thousand credit cards
and is fully capable of emptying the entire inventory of a large
mall (like the Plaza at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania). Her
anatomy is even adapted to shopping; she has had seven extra arms
surgically attached. These are useful for shoving aside other
shoppers, grabbing toys away from frustrated parents and signing
receipts as fast of possible. Shoppopotamus has a bellowing
'Mills Darden' voice and uses it to full effect to confuse, chide
bully and insult anyone who gets in her way.
The Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commision and
countless Chambers of Commerce have tried unsucessfully for years
to erase her, but since she draws her energy from a network that
can never be shut down, the authorities are simply powerless to
stop her. Credit Line deals with mall security by blasting wild
fanciful "contest" announcements and surplus "sales" of items
like Tickle Me Elmo. The resulting crowd stampedes are enough to
swamp any efforts to apprehend her. When cornered, she simply
sublimes and flows into the nearest ATM machine.
the beret
Shoppopotamus' beret is a stainless steel wire frame containing
every possible variety of gift box, bag, cart and dolly. The
entire structure is about thirty feet in diameter (just narrow
enough to fit into the typical mega-mall corridor) and is supported
by numerous struts. Each strut has a wobbly hard rubber wheel
that makes the beret careen from side to side as Credit Line
tries to move from store to store. Several large screen TVs are
fixed at the front and rear of the beret, they only run shopper
announcements and infomercials. The rest of her beret is rimmed
with silk flowers, stuffed birds, gift wrap, bows and covers of
Vogue magazine.
Submitted by Andy Wing (a_wing@th_under.ocis.temple.edu), on Friday 7th February, 1997