Herald Square subway stop filled with happy JCPenney shoppers

It's not often you see joyful people in New York's Herald Square subway station. That's why JCPenney's new ads caught my attention on the way to work this week. The ads are part of the retail giant's holiday "Joy of Giving" campaign and tout the JCPenney store on 33rd Street and 6th Avenue, which opened thsi summer. JCPenney clearly wanted to make the most impact in the corridors that connect the subway lines with a mix of bright red posters and life-size images of people wearing the retailer's clothes and lugging its shopping bags. Despite being pretty invasive (you really can't escape the holiday cheer), the happy JCPenney posters are at least more pleasant to look at than the usual drab walls and graffiti. As for promoting the new Herald Square location, I think the ads might do better with tourists than New Yorkers, who are usually too busy texting and shoving people out of the way to read the fine print.

—Posted by Elena Malykhina