100 robotic humans vs. 100 humanoid robots

First off, I want to mention how ultimately icky this Flavorstone frying pan ad is. (By  Dentsu, Tokyo, via Ads of The World.)

I mean, the choreography is impressive, but 100 young women in short-skirted maid outfits, all working to satisfy some old guy's weird fetish? Not exactly progressive:

And then, coincidentally, Mashable just recently posted this:

So there you have it: 100 humans vs. 100 robots, battling for your viral attention. The humans have sexual objectification on their side. But then again, the robots do not.

F'd Ad Fridays: Dead, Taiwanese Steve Jobs pitches the Android tablet

Cue the Apple fanboy outrage (he typed on his MacBook Pro).



Via Mashable

Facebook: Born of nerds, killed by nerds?

Mashable reports that some (although not all) members of the headline-hungry hacker group "Anonymous" have declared that they will destroy Facebook on November 5:



This video, which looks like something from Robocop, cites users' total ignorance of privacy issues as the cause.

I guess we'll just have to see what happens...

Can Vancouver redeem itself through crowdnarcing?

Last night's Stanley Cup Loser Riot in Vancouver was a black eye for the city and the team. But there are many in Vancouver who refuse to let their reputation be destroyed by a few assholes. So they decided to out the troublemakers on social media.

"Vancouver 2011 Riot Criminal List" is a collaborative Tumblr photoblog that asks riot witnesses to post photos of people they saw engaged in violence and property damage last night.

It has graphic pictures of guys beating up on other guys, people smashing stuff, and drunken idiots celebrating the chaos.

The Vancouver Police, no doubt, are happy to get so much evidence handed to them. And these idiots really do deserve to be prosecuted.

But it's also wierd to remind yourself that, despite the paranoia of conspiracy theorists, it is not "the government" but rather the actions of cameraphone-carrying concerned citizens that have made sure no place on Earth is hidden from observation, documentation, and publishing.

We have met Big Brother, my friends. And he is us.

Via Mashable

It could just as easily be a social media pitch

College Humor posted this hilarious send-up on the new tech bubble of digital marketing and mobile app startups:



I regularly hear the same level of jargon on blogs and Tweets about social media. (And, unfortunately, sometimes in person.)

Via Mashable.

In defence of slacktivism

Today, my colleagues and I are wearing purple. It's part of a local day of awareness for mental illness called "Purple Pledge Day". (You can read all about it on the Acart Blog, and see all our pictures at the Acart Facebook Page).

The call went out last week to put on purple to remember the tragic suicide of Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson’s 14-year-daughter, Daron, as well as all other victims of mental illness.

Another day, another colour, another way to feel good about yourself for doing next to nothing, right?

Well, no.

While slacktivism is often criticized as ineffective in creating meaningful change, awareness can make a difference. Mashable has a great article about why the term itself is the worst thing about these micro-movements:

“It irritates me that we have invented this term as a pejorative way to describe what should be viewed as the first steps to being involved in a cause in 2010,” said Katya Andresen, Chief Operating Officer of Network for Good. “Let’s not whine that people want to do easy things that make them feel they’ve somehow made a difference. It’s okay if someone’s initial commitment is modest -– and it’s truly an opportunity that it’s easier than ever to spread information, create new initiatives for social good, and take action.”

“What the world needs now is far more engagement by individual citizens, not less, and simple steps such as signing petitions or even sharing opinions/tweeting are steps in the right direction,” said Randy Paynter, CEO and Founder of Care2. “As Edmund Burke once said, ‘Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.’ Because small steps can lead to bigger steps, being critical of small steps serves no good. It simply disenfranchises folks.”

We are overwhelmed with things to think and care about these days. Giving important social issues their own day, with a simple action that jogs the memory and incites conversation, is actually quite useful.

This is especially important for the issue of mental illness, because there is still so much stigma attached to physical diseases and conditions that express themselves through changes to mood and personality. The mental world is very much an undiscovered country for all but a few researchers, and things that happen in our heads carry the mythological fear of the unknown.

However, it not an issue that anyone can ignore. One source estimates that one in five people in Ontario will experience a mental illness at some point in his or her lifetime. (Having worked in advertising for 20 years, I am not joking when I say that I am convinced that way more than 20% of us are mentally ill — whether diagnosed or not!)

So it matters that we're talking a little more about mental illness today, and that we were able to take some small action to feel a tiny bit more personal involvement in, and control over, a seemingly overwhelming issue.

If you'd like to do even more, you can donate to the Daron Richardson Fund through the Sens Foundation or the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health

A new, and scary, kind of online PSA

If you haven't been to Please Rob Me yet, you should do so now. Not because you are in any imminent danger, but because it's an interesting new development in public service announcements.

Created by Dutch designers and developers Barry Borsboom, Frank Groeneveld, and Boy van Amstel, Please Rob Me is just a template for displaying a specific type of Twitter search, one that amalgamates Tweets from voluntarily location-aware applications like Foursquare, and uses the context to tell everyone that the Twitterer is no longer at home.

From the developers:

"Hey, do you have a Twitter account? Have you ever noticed those messages in which people tell you where they are? Pretty annoying, eh. Well, they're actually also potentially pretty dangerous. We're about to tell you why.

Don't get us wrong, we love the whole location-aware thing. The information is very interesting and can be used to create some pretty awesome applications. However, the way in which people are stimulated to participate in sharing this information, is less awesome.

...

The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you're definitely not... home. So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home."

And here's why I think this qualifies as a social marketing PSA:

"The goal of this website is to raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information."

Mashable adds:

"These guys have a legitimate point. Stories about status updates leading to burglaries are becoming commonplace. You may remember that video podcaster Israel Hyman was robbed after tweeting that he was out was out town, and there’s even evidence to support the notion that burglars are turning to social media to find their targets."

It's an interesting way of raising awareness of the way social media power-users are giving away far more information than they may have bargained for. But I wonder if it breaks any privacy laws itself. We'll see.