Coke's latest ad tactic too dirty for New Orleans #FdAdFriday

Adland put me on to a New Orleans blog called NOLAFemmes, in which Coca-Cola is accused of defacing the city's Historic French Quarter and Faubourg Tremé with illegally stencilled road ads.

Blogger Lunanola writes:

"It is my opinion that the City of New Orleans is being pimped out promoted at an unprecedented level (to a degree that gives rise to what could be described as “neighborhood fatigue”). Such heavy promotion rarely occurs without unintended consequences: for example, illegal, ugly, and damaging guerrilla marketing campaigns. This kind of defacement is unconscionable and must be addressed immediately...  

Stated simply, the most significant difference between historic beauty and hazardous decay is cumulative, uninterrupted neglect. The continued degradation of the historic heart of New Orleans cannot remain unaddressed, particularly if one considers that our amazing city will be in an ever-increasing spotlight while hosting the 2013 Super Bowl and celebrating its 300th Anniversary in 2018."

I like the comment by Adland's kidsleepy better:

"It doesn't take much effort to realize why the woman would be upset. But I'll just go ahead and add more reasons to the list. Like: the lines suck. There is no idea here. And the advertising is a complete wank fest. 

If law-breaking is involved don't you think it would be worth the effort to, oh, I don't know, do something creative and smart and even conceptually relevant to the media 'buy?'"

I would just add that they should leave the outlaw marketing to real activists, and go back to exploiting polar bears and Santa Claus.

Go, Lara, Go!

Here at Acart, we try to live our "work that really matters" credo and give something back to our communities. But one of my colleagues took it to a whole other level.



Lara Taweel, an Account Executive, just got back from a week of building houses in New Orleans' St. Tammany Parish with Habitat for Humanity.

Lara went with a group partially funded by International Orthodox Christian Charities, an organization she met through friends at her church. The rest of the money came out of Lara's pocket.




Lara says she was moved by the plight of people who lost their homes near the levee when Hurricane Katrina broke through it in 2005. The house she worked on was for a single mom and nurse, who was forced by the natural disaster to start over. Lara says it was particularly rewarding to meet the future homeowners, who donate many hours of their own time and effort to getting themselves re-established.



In her typical modest fashion, Lara didn't tell many people around the agency where she was going on her June vacation. But she came back with lots of pictures and stories to inspire others to take up the cause.

We're all really proud of Lara for braving 40 degree Louisiana heat and "way too much fried food" just to do something meaningful for other people in need. This is what the true spirit of altruism is supposed to look like.

Way to go!