Ottawa Admen go *POP*

The Ottawa Ad community is really one, big, incestuous family. Many of the people who work for the "competition" are men and women we've worked with in previous lives, and quite a few remain lifelong friends. It's in that spirit that I give you twin Art Directors Daryn Wantuck and Tim Wantuck from The Bytown Group in a living work of pop art:

(Photo by Mike Z.)

Daryn and Tim were recruited, among many other sets of identicals, to appear in the exhibit Pop Life: Living in a Material World at the National Gallery of Canada. According to the "about" page it explores the "complex relationship between contemporary art, marketing and the mass media", starting with Andy Warhol and ending with... well... these guys.

It's a recreation of the 1992 Damien Hirst exhibit at the Cologne Unfair art fair, where the British artist commissioned a set of identical twins named Ingo and Torsten to spend time sitting in front of his trademark spot paintings.

You can't invite ad creatives to be part of an exhibit like that without getting something extra. And so it happened that, after their first sitting in the installation, Daryn and Tim asked their Facebook friends if they should wear some more conceptual matching outfits for the next one. They wanted to make a statement about commercialization that was all their own.

Michael Zavacky, from McMillan, is well known for his campy illustrations and love of vintage clothing and trends. He offered to make some matching tees for the Wantuck Twins.

That's where I chimed in and suggested "Doublemint", after the famous commercials of our Gen-X childhoods:



Everyone gave it a thumbs-up, Mike designed and screened suitably retro tees, the lads wore them to the Gallery last Thursday, and it was a big hit. I love it when a plan comes together. And I love the sense of community that our agency peeps have. You guys all rock.

Daryn and Tim's next sitting at Pop Life: Living in a Material World is this Sunday (SUNDAY! SUNDAY!) from 10 am to 1:30 pm. Check it out, and ask the boys for a stick of gum!

CK QR AR FTW

My colleague Lynn sent around an interesting link yesterday. Apparently, Calvin Klein has revolutionized outdoor advertising by running a billboard in major US cities that is just one big QR code:


(Pic taken from Ottawa Citizen)

This 2-dimensional barcode, similar to the Mobio one we used on our iheartmom campaign, is read by camera phones (with the right apps) to unlock online content.

In the case of the Calvin Klein billboard, it was this "uncensored" content:



Not exactly shocking stuff, but I'm sure it will get people with the right technology to check it out. And in advertising, getting people to take the time to interact is everything these days.

As well, this mashup of two hot trends — QR and augmented reality (AR) — is newsworthy in itself. It doesn't matter if many of the people who view your ad don't have the time or hardware to view it properly. As viewers of Mad Men's new season opener are aware, innovation and guts in the marketplace generate its own PR rewards.

Breast Ironing in Cameroon. Yes, I said "breast ironing"...

This ~8 minute documentary by the Current focuses on a weird but tragic new cultural trend in Cameroon called "breast ironing".

If that term itself doesn't already have my female readers cringing, here is a description from the accompanying article:

The 'ritual' is performed by massaging the girls' chests with heated objects like stones, in order to reverse their pubescent development. The mums say it's driven by fear of unwanted male attention, rape and pre-marital pregnancies.

Now that you've been duly warned, here's the video. It's appropriately graphic and disturbing:



This is one of those situations, like genital mutilation, that tests our respect for cultural differences among humanity. How could any mother do that to her daughter? How could anyone think that the masking of secondary sex characteristics is proof against sexual activity — or, for that matter victimization?

There is something you can do about it. The African National Network of Aunties Associations, RENATA, is campaigning against the practice.

From their campaign site:

Problem:

- 24% have experienced breast ‘ironing’
- It includes the use of hot objects (spoons, herbs, stones or leaves) or salt and petrol
- The risk of having the breasts ‘ironed’ is twice for girls who develop breasts before the age of nine years

Why are the breasts of adolescents ironed?

Many people think:

- That the breasts will attract men
- That the breasts make girls sexually active early and that they risk to become pregnant
- That the girls can grow up normally and can continue their education when their breasts are ‘ironed’

Consequences:

- Massaging the breasts of girls with hot objects terribly hurts and can completely destroy the breasts
- Breast ‘ironing’ can traumatize and negatively affect the girls for the rest of their lives
- It can have negative influence on their sexual behavior
- Physical consequences of breast ‘ironing’ are: horrible pain, abscess and itching, leakage of milk, cysts, picks on the breast, infection of the breasts and strong fever, asymmetric breasts, total disappearance of breasts
- This practice can favor the risk of developing breast cancer

RENATA takes donations of as little at $10 online. Let's just leave it at that.

Carpet F-Bombing the Gulf

Marc from Osocio Weblog shared this link, from gonzo activists Unf--kTheGulf.com. But before you watch it, I have to warn you that this has a lot of strong language in it.

How much? The number of times the dreaded "F word" is said in this video puts Al Swearengen from the series Deadwood, a bleeped-out rap video, and even a teenage boy trying to impress his buddies to shame.

Ready? (Headphones!)

Oil Spill Charity "F-Bomb-A-Thon" from UnF--kTheGulf.com on Vimeo.

The call-to-action is to buy an "Unf--k the Gulf" tee shirt, the profits of which will go to charities that will clean up the Gulf — as well as to fund anti-oil activism. The site offers a choice of where your money goes. The recipients are Louisiana Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, LA Gulf Response, Earthjustice (who are launching a lawsuit against BP) and Greenpeace.



Will it help? It's a pretty good meme. And if it can squeeze five bucks out of a few thousand slacktivists, it can't hurt.

The campaign was developed by Luke Montgomery of Good Ideas for Good Causes, a "charity crusader, media maven and design dork".

Burundi Mondays

For the next few weeks, every Monday's post will be dedicated to following the African exploits of Acart Videographer Christopher Redmond as he teaches film and advertising in Burundi.



Christopher is a co-founder of the Burundi Film Center, a non-profit media development project that "helps Burundian citizens to learn essential 21st century mass communication skills from international filmmakers and documentarians, while engaging those same media experts in African issues".

Christopher arrived in Africa last week, and immediately set about sharing what he has learned working at our ad agency for almost 3 years.

From his blog:

Today was the final day of the Rwanda Film Festival and I was asked to teach a TV advertising workshop to about a dozen students. As I explained to them, even directors in Hollywood work on commercials between projects to help them make a living. The fact Rwanda only has one national television station was beside the point. The tips I gave could all translate into making good short films – keeping the message simple, telling the story visually and making sure every shot says something.

I walked them through the entire process of creating commercials using samples from my work at Acart Communications in Ottawa. So I broke down what makes up an advertising agency in North America (creatives and client services), then showed them the steps and format to write for TV, create animated storyboards and finally the finished product. The fact I used mainly Government of Canada commercials as samples, like our Elder Abuse and 72 Hours “Get Prepared” campaigns, also made them laugh. “Wow, your government cares so much about your people,” one student told me. “It is very different here.”

Overall, I tried to keep things basic and relevant, giving them ideas for how to break into an industry that otherwise seems exclusive and, well, alien. I explained that creating spec TV spots (fake commercials) or exciting “pitch” videos for clients is a good way to start. See there’s often a “catch 22” for working in film and TV –you need to have already done it in order to do it. But everyone has to start somewhere. And knowing how to take that first step yourself can end up being a giant leap in your career.

Best of luck to Christopher and his students, from all of us here at Acart. You see? Doing work that matters is more than a slogan to us. It's a way of life.

Distracted driving PSA shoot distracts drivers

Now that's ironic.

California news site KION reports that a Seaside, CA, shoot for a TV PSA on texting and driving caused serious consternation among area drivers.

"The PSA looked so real that several people driving by thought that a real fatal accident had occurred. Cars were flipped over and people were thrown to the ground."

The campaign was being shot by Monterey's Clear Blue Studios for Impact Teen Drivers. The spot was partially conceived by a local high school student.

There's a bystander video of the set embedded in the KION article, as well as a TV news item. No crashes were reported as a result of the shoot.

Who knew stock photo agencies were so psychopathic?

We always knew they were pervy. Back in the days when we used to receive hundreds of pounds of stock photo catalogues every month, we'd flip through them for inspiration and stumble upon the requisite "artistic" female nudes. My Art Director friend Donna told me that it was a holdover from the days when most ADs were men. "They really know their audience," she'd snark.

But when I look at some of the pictures dredged up by a great new user-generated viral blog, Awkward Stock Photos, I wonder what kind of deranged lunatics they think they're appealing to now.



The Shutterstock description says it all: "An insane nurse in wearing hypno glasses gets ready to inject you with a giant hypodermic syringe". Yeah, that's exactly what I was looking for.



Not sure what they're smoking over at Corbis, but I'll bet it's damn good.



Getty gives us "woman with meat necklace". This one is part of a series, in case you feel selling prosciutto jewellery to women with altered skintones is campaignable.



I far prefer this Getty image for its honest approach: "I have no idea what your concept is about, so here's a dog with a donut on its head".

Go deep into Awkward Stock Photos. It's a worthwhile time-waster.

And yes. There are boobies.

Thanks to Vince for the link!

The King is a cheater

Reader Mark sent me an interesting news item from the U.K. It seems that Burger King has had one of its recent ads pulled by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Let's watch, and see if we can spot the problem:



So what was the issue? Implied zoophilia? Encouraging food-based adultery?

According to the BBC:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said: "We also examined the size of the burgers in the hands of an average-sized man and considered that they did not fill the hands to the same extent as the burger featured in the advert.

"We concluded that the visuals in the advert were likely to mislead viewers as to the size and composition of the product."

This is pretty funny, considering everyone knows they don't use real food in ads. Right?


(Example from nuffy.net - there are more disturbing ones!)

Plus, of course, everyone also knows we men exaggerate the size of everything we can get our hands on.

Cloning the talking baby

A few months ago, I blogged on Osocio about Bristol Palin's PSA for the Candie's Foundation, an American not-for-profit that tries to show girls the realities of becoming a teenage mom.

Now there's a new spot out with Bristol's endorsement, although this one is less about comparing her wealthy life to that of poor teen moms. Instead, it steals E*Trade's talking baby concept (which itself was an old idea) to demonstrate what a tyrant a baby really can be:



Mind you, teen parenthood is a very serious issue, and I hope this PSA convinces a few girls (and boys!) to take steps to avoid it. But it's always a shame when lazy ad people waste an opportunity for originality by ripping off a well-known idea and then doing a poorer job of it.

I do, however, love the line "and you thought your parents were controlling?" coming from the daughter of someone who almost became Vice President of the United States.

I am offended by this ad

The Toronto Star reports (and rather gleefully, I should add) that the following ad "is a tad too sexy — even for the famously sultry City of Montreal":



Apparently, a city official calls the advertisement sexist and "not something Montreal could endorse".

Montreal, people.



In Pammy's words:

"In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest over the suffering of cows and chickens. In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole bodies with burqas -- is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical."

You obviously have your own opinion about whether this ad is sexist, smut, or "you GO girl" empowerment. But it's pretty damn tame for PETA, who have at other times shown the Canadian ex-pat topless and in a lettuce bikini. They show skin, someone gets mad, people talk about it, and PETA gets the attention it so desperately craves. Old story.

In fact, the most offensive part of this whole tale is how hackneyed the ad concept is. Real live PETA protesters have been doing this one — in a far more daring way — for years.




UPDATE: Interesting note from PETA regarding their use of naked women in ads (via @Treehugger):

"First, please know that PETA isn't using women's bodies. Women are using their own bodies. The women who use their bodies as political tools do so willingly and gladly, and they don't like to be told to cover up by other women who don't agree with their choices. They feel that they have the right to express themselves in this way, and they don't want some women dictating and criticizing them for how much skin they wish to show any more than women who lived during the early days of feminism and before wanted men to tell them to cover up.

As for PETA, we recognize the simple fact that there's a lot of competition for consumers' attention, so we are creative and provocative in order to make sure that people do turn around and stare and then learn something about the cruel industries that we fight. Our activists and celebrity supporters gladly use their bodies as a sure-fire way to draw attention to how animals are exploited. The women are not exploited--they are happy to participate in a social cause. They show about as much flesh as you might see at the beach. They are proud to be able to use their bodies for a good purpose--to draw attention to the suffering of elephants who are beaten bloody and forced to live in chains and to the plight of other animals who endure torture, isolation, terror, and violent death. And it works--Olivia Munn's participation in our anti-circus campaign prompted more than 300 clothed people to participate in our protest against Ringling Bros. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last week.

As an organization headed and founded by a woman and staffed largely by feminist women, PETA knows about the serious problems that women face, both here in the U.S. and in countries where women are forced to cover up and shut up. Impassioned individuals have been "going naked" since Lady Godiva protested taxes. We believe that all people should be free to use their minds and bodies as political instruments."

What did I miss?

I just got back from 2 weeks' vacation, and there seems to be a backlog of epic waiting for me. What did I miss?

Well, for one thing, the Old Spice Guy is now King of the Internet:









Reuters lit up the viralsphere with what can either be seen as the most childish, or most naive headline of all time:



Another viral sensation (and obvious recreational drug fan) Hungrybear9562, got autotuned:





And, on a more serious note, Minneapolis activist Stacey Burns wrote in to update me on the USI "Fast, Cheap, and Satisfaction Guaranteed" saga:

"The saga lurches forward: although USI pulled the billboards as promised, copies of the ad appeared in men's restrooms throughout Minneapolis in June. In response, as if to thumb his nose at the activism that provoked the billboards' removal--and to demonstrate his commitment to the failed campaign--USI Wireless' President, Joe Caldwell, appears in at least one version of the ad, pictured here at Park Avenue and 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis.



I'm hoping to persuade USI to make a meaningful contribution to the Women's Foundation of Minnesota or another organization that works to promote the safety and well-being of sex workers and to increase housing and educational opportunities for young people."

Change Marketing will return to daily blogging next Monday. Sorry for not announcing the hiatus in advance, but I didn't want to turn up on Please Rob Me...

Happy Canada Day!

It's a day off, so here are a bunch of YouTube videos that give insights into Canadianness:

























Please feel free to add links to other videos in the comments below, eh?