In light of Rachel Dolezal, remember Iron Eyes Cody

Most people middle aged or older remember the "Crying Indian" campaign for Keep America Beautiful:

Most of them, by now, also know that Iron Eyes Cody was no Native American. Born to Sicilian Immigrants in southwestern Louisiana in 1904, Espera Oscar de Corti became an actor in his youth, and found that he could "pass" as a Native American in Hollywood.

de Corti, changing his name to "Cody," claimed to have Cherokee-Cree heritage. He played native roles in dozens of westerns, with John Wayne and other stars of the mid-20th century. His chanting was featured in the Joni Michtell song "Lakota." And, of course, he was the Noble Savage face of Keep America Beautiful. All while sharing more heritage with Christopher Columbus than with the people who got the shit end of the Columbian Exchange.

By all accounts Iron Eyes Cody tried to honour his assumed ancestry. He became an activist for Native American causes, and did lecture tours preaching against the harm of alcohol. He married a Seneca archaeologist, Bertha Parker, and they adopted two adopted two Dakota and/or Maricopa children. He even wrote a book about native sign language.

He also invented a backstory, quoted by Glendale News Press from  a 1951 local newspaper article:

“Iron Eyes learned much of his Indian lore in the days when, as a youth, he toured the country with his father, Thomas Long Plume, in a wild west show. During his travels, he taught himself the sign language of other tribes of Indians” 

The article said that the television star and his wife would appear at a Glendale Historical Society event to tell the story of the “Indian Sign Language in Pictures'' and would demonstrate Indian arts and customs. Plus, the couple would bring along their 3-month-old “papoose” Robin (Robert Timothy). All were to be attired in Indian regalia.

In 1996, three years before his death, Iron Eyes Cody was outed as European by his half-sister, May Abshire, who offered proof of the actor's Sicilian parentage to the Times-Picayune. Cody denied the allegations.

Today, such a shocking exposé, proving that an upstanding member of an ethnic community was really an outsider, would be all over social media. Just like Rachel Dolezal.

I'm having a hard time digging up any initial reactions to Iron Eyes Cody's outing from indigenous people in the United States or Canada. How is he remembered? Did he help make native issues more visible, or did he obnoxiously appropriate an oppressed culture that didn't belong to him?

Please comment below. It's moderated, but I'll approve it ASAP.

Kenyan condom ad pulled for referencing extramarital sex

This ad is entirely in Swahili, but if you look up the term "Mpango Wa Kando" you can get the gist of the story: Two women in the market discuss one of them having an affair with a man. The woman tells her friend, the "adultress" that she should use a condom to protect herself and their families from sexually transmitted infections (HIV in particular).

From the YouTube comments:

The “Weka Condom Mpangoni” advert which features two women who openly admit something we fight to put under the carpet that yes there are married women with mpango wa Kando. 

“One of the ladies inquires about the other’s husband and then immediately seeks to find out how her mpango wa kando is doing. The first lady then goes ahead to explain that even though her husband may be away, that does not mean that she miss out on “fun” since the other guy is readily available to provide it. The second lady then counsels her to always use condom whenever she’s having “fun” with her mpango wa kando”.

The Anglican Church and the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya protested the ad, claiming it was promoting promiscuity and infidelity rather than preventing HIV, and Kenya's Ministry of Public Health cancelled the ad's TV broadcast.

In response, columnist Lucy Maroncha wrote:

Had the clergy not interfered with it, the message would have reached millions of Kenyans and would have benefited even the youth and people already living with HIV.
Whether you are married or not, using condoms in Kenya is challenging for most people as it carries the weight of stigma and many shy from buying them from shops. 

Gladys (name changed) a married woman who admits having an extra marital affair tells me that sometimes she and her lover opt to have unprotected sex for fear of stigma in the community if anyone saw them buying condoms. "With or without the advert, thousands of married people have extra marital affairs and the clergy should not bury their heads in the sand. They should team up with the government to promote the prevention campaign," she asserts.

Kenya is the 4th most HIV/AIDS-affected nation in the world, with at least 100,000 new infections in Kenya annually. But heaven forbid we talk about safer sex, even outside of marriage. 

Provocative Nunavut FASD posters have a Russian connection

Via Storify

Last week on Osocio, I reviewed an anti-FASD campaign that ran at LCBO stores, and took some heat for my claim that its potentially shaming approach to any drinking in pregnancy wasn't helpful. But that campaign was pretty mild when compared to the new ads by the government of Nunavut:

Via CBC

According to the CBC, these posters are "provoking a strong reaction from residents" — both positive and negative.  They were designed by Atiigo Media Inc., a communications company in Iqaluit that specializes in northern issues.

The ads certainly are intended to provide shock value, showing the fetus literally drowning in alcohol. That's not exactly biologically accurate, but some locals apparently feel the strong messaging is justified by the high rates of alcohol abuse in the north, which has prompted some communities to ban alcohol entirely.

I still object to the unnecessary shaming or scaring pregnant women, even as I have to admit that I am culturally isolated from the communities for which this campaign was created.

Notably, while trying to find a better image of the campaign, I stumbled upon this Russian campaign from 2012:

While it is not uncommon for PSA campaigns to share creative ideas for public good, I wonder if this was a partnership or plain old plunder...

8-year-old NHS PSA causes fresh outrage over victim blaming

Via Daily Mail

Patrick, a reader, made me aware of the latest example of an anti-binge-drinking ad that ends up promoting the culture of blaming victims of rape.

In this case, it's the UK government's National Health Service that is causing outrage.

The Drum reports that the poster actually dates back to 2006,  part of the "Know Your Limits" campaign, but it is still available as part of an online toolkit and posted in some health facilities.

A Change.org petition, launched recently, states:

Two honourable intentions -- to stop people drinking, and to stop rape happening - are being completely deformed. Of course we don't want people to drink so much they make themselves ill, but threatening them with rape by implication is not the way to do it. Of course we don't want anyone to endure sexual assault and rape, but making them feel like it's their fault if they do, is so far out of order. 

It is not consistent with the NHS' own guidelines on 'Help after rape and sexual assault' in which they say 'If you have been sexually assaulted, remember that it wasn’t your fault. It doesn’t matter what you were wearing, where you were or whether you had been drinking. A sexual assault is always the fault of the perpetrator.' This is a much more helpful approach, and we ask the NHS and the Home Office to destroy this poster in all formats. 

It currently has over 62,000 signatures.

There have been a number of prominent anti-alcohol campaigns in recent years that have hit these same triggers, including PSAs by MADD, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, CabWise and West Mercia Police.

The fact that the NHS campaign is an older one shows how far we've come in understanding the cultural issues around rape in just a few years, but it is also a reminder to keep your PSA libraries up-to-date.

"Dumb Ways to Die" has been sold to a life insurance company

It was the most fun, most ear-wormy safety campaign of 2012. It won multiple awards. It reached the top 10 in the global iTunes chart within 24 hours of its release, and was a popular gaming app.

And now it's selling life insurance in Canada.







Joe La Pompe first made me aware of this. According to the Globe and Mail, Metro Trains, the Australian client for whom the original ad was made, has embarked on a global licensing program to make money from the cartoon song's popularity. Empire Life stated, “The message ... aims to make the topics of death and life insurance more approachable and remind consumers that the unexpected happens every day.”

What a stupid idea... for both Empire Life and Metro.

First of all, the viral potential of the cartoon has already been tapped worldwide. Thanks to international ad blogs, the PSA is already very familiar to Canadians. Many have seen it already, and will not necessarily associate it with life insurance or with Empire Life.

Second, it reeks of greed on the part of Metro. They had a runaway hit for the public good, and they sell it to an insurance company who totally miss the point? Now all those cute death scenarios are there to scare people into buying something, rather than to make a point about rail safety.

Third, how lazy do you have to be, as a marketer, to buy a successful, globally-recognized safety campaign and just tack a tacky tagline and corporate logo on it? Yeesh.

The only original thing they did was to translate and re-record it in French.

BBQ joint ad mocks vegetarians and mental health campaigns

This campaign for Red’s True BBQ, a carnivorous join in Leeds and Manchester, UK, is trying to be funny. I get that.

Oppositional meat-loving is well known, from the classic "Plenty of room for all God's creatures" ad for the Saskatoon steakhouse, to passive-aggressive notes on campus billboards.

But it's not vegetarians who are outraged at this one. It's mental health advocates.

From the Leeds Student Newspaper:

Responding to the outcry on social media, the restaurant has posted a blog apologising for mocking vegetarianism, stating that they are “currently liaising with media owners to update the billboard”. However, there is no apology for mocking mental illness or domestic abuse charities. 

According to Mind, one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. The most common form of mental illness is mixed anxiety and depression, which affects about one in ten. Refuge, a charity that deals with domestic abuse, says that two women each week are killed from domestic violence. 

But these facts probably never occurred to Red’s True BBQ.

Probably not. Brands as big as McDonald's have made similar mistakes, assuming that it was OK to lampoon mental health PSA clichés to sell stuff.

It's not. At least, not anymore.

It should be noted that Red's BBQ has offered the standard non-apology — but only to "offended" vegetarians.

Making fun of people's life choices seems like fair game to me. It should be noted that Red's BBQ has offered the standard non-apology — but only to "offended" vegetarians.

Making fun of people's life choices seems like fair game to me. Mocking who they are, however, in my opinion is not.

Mexico's breastfeeding campaign big on breasts, feeding not so much

Via La Grande

The text in the banner says, ""Don't turn your back on them ... Give them your breast."

The women are model and actress  Camila Sodi, TV presenter Cecilia Galiano, boxer Mariana "Barbie" Juarez and  actress Maribel Guardia. All are famous in Mexico.

NPR points out that while breastfeeding rates in Mexico are among the lowest in Latin America, the causes have more to do with a society that is not supportive of working women breastfeeding, and one in which formula companies ply their trade among rich and poor alike with little or no regulation.

Will saying, "Look! These sexy celebrities want you to give your breasts to your baby" be an effective way to turn this around? Unlikely. The whole idea that breasts only serve to turn us on is part of the problem in societies unfriendly to breastfeeding. This will probably only make things worse.

Here are some larger images of the ads, via mujereselsalvador.com:

Here's the week's worst liquor-related PSA, courtesy Pennsylvania state liquor workers

A similar PSA by Ontario's brewers' retail monopoly to fight against allowing beer in convenience stores took a beating in Canadian media.

But its scare tactics pale in comparison to the epically shoddy writing, acting, and production in this anti-privatization one by UFCW Local 1776, the union representing public Wine & Spirits employees in Pennsylvania:



As Consumerist puts it, "it’s at least good for a laugh while trying to ride out the rest of your Friday afternoon at work."

Here's a non-Flash embed:

Can you shame people out of using the ER as a walk-in clinic?

In a public healthcare system, one of the biggest drains on resources is the people who come to Emergency for problems that should be addressed by family doctors, clinics, or even telephone health advisors.

More urgently, the long wait-times that result can actually prevent the people who desperately need treatment from getting it in time. At least, that's what this PSA from the UK National Health Service in Suffolk wants you to know:



It's not exactly a subtle message. And if you read this blog (or my posts on Osocio) regularly, you know I'm not a fan of guilt and shame as social motivators.

I don't like the ad. But in this particular case, I think it could actually work. The difference is that the "ask" of this PSA is actually pretty simple: to call the NHS telephone health line first.

Who wouldn't prefer to avoid a trip to the ER waiting room, where non-emergency cases get triaged into several-hours-long waits among the sick and injured? I just wish that the message had been that, instead of using a dead child as worst case scenario.

Thanks to Bury Free Press (from my ancestral homeland, BTW) for the tip.

"Drink more water" PSAs banned from local cinema

Two low-budget health department PSAs promoting water drinking have caused unexpected controversy in Ukiah, California:





According to Daily Journal News, the ads have been rejected for placement in the Regal Ukiah Stadium 6 cinema by its national media placement firm, which is named as National CineMedia — which also serves theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Cinemark Holdings, and others.

The reason? According to the agency that produced the ads, DG Creative Branding, "It conflicts with soda sales in the theater lobby and will upset management and the theater circuit"

As the agency's video points out, bottled water (marketed by Coke and Pepsi) is also sold at cinema concessions. So it seems strange that these PSAs were seen as such a threat. Especially considering their unassuming DYI stock-photo-slideshow style, and the fact that they were sponsored by the CDC.

I doubt there's any vast cola conspiracy here. My guess is that some poorly-trained individual at National CineMedia made a stupid call. The company could not be reached by Daily Journal News for comment.

Another great, gory PSA from Down Under

First came "Dumb Ways to Die", the hilarious transit safety campaign by McCann Melbourne that dominated at Cannes.

Now, here's something new from Director Justin Wight at Monkeystack, for the Australian Red Cross:



Pretty funny stuff. I'll just assume the creatives on this are fans of Don Hertzfeldt (and/or Cyanide & Happiness)...

Is Miley's ode to MDMA the best anti-drug PSA ever?

"Molly" is the powdered or crystal form of MDMA, a more potent form of ecstasy.

Effects include...

Increased feelings of intimacy:

Derealization:

Depersonalization:

Altered perceptions:

Positive basic mood:

Anxiety:

Loss of thought or body control:

Hallucinations:

And thought disorder:

In other words, kids, "Just Say No".

Stills via Vice.

Stinky PSA campaign causes a real-life gas leak panic

Via NY Daily News

Here's a funny one.

According to the Great Falls Tribune, reports of a major natural gas leak in the Montana city's business section caused the evacuation of several buildings yesterday.

The cause? Scratch-n-sniff direct mailers designed to educate the public about what a gas leak smells like:

Nick Bohr, general manager at Energy West, said workers at the company were cleaning out some storage areas and discarded several boxes of scratch-and-sniff cards that it sent out to customers in the past to educate them on what natural gas smells like. 

“They were expired, and they were old,” Bohr said. “They threw them into the Dumpsters.” 

When the cards were picked up by sanitation trucks and crushed, “It was the same as if they had scratched them.”

Natural gas doesn't have a detectable odour of its own, but has a chemical (t-butyl mercaptan or thiophane) added to give it a foul "rotten egg" smell so that people can detect leaks.

Via Philly.com

Energy West had been distributing the PSA cards to customers as part of a safety awareness campaign.

“In a sense, it worked the way it was supposed to,” commented Nick Bohr, general manager at Energy West, as part of the company's apology for the inconvenience. They also mentioned that there was no public safety or environmental concern about putting the expired cards in the trash.

If you want stinky PSA stickers of your own, you can order them by the thousand here.

Tip via The Consumerist

This 40-year-old PSA will start your week off with a "WTF"?

If this woman looks familiar, don't be surprised. It's Joanna Cassidy, aka Zhora the Replicant from Blade Runner, aka Dolores from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, aka Margaret from Six Feet Under.

Back in 1973, she was known from a couple of cop films, but not well enough to be named in this Ad Council PSA about forest fires. Instead, her sultry delivery seems to be a generic play on the "sex sells" cliché with a bizarre surprise ending:



Interesting that sex in advertising was already a target for parody forty years ago. And yet many advertisers continue to use women's sexuality to deliver unrelated messages to us with no irony at all.

Via Smokey Bear's YouTube channel.

The US Navy launches one of the world's worst anti-drug campaigns

Business Insider writes, "The U.S. Navy produced this public service announcement warning recruits against using bath salts for all the obvious reasons -- vomiting, paranoia, brain swelling and violent behavior. Plus, you might see demons!"



Sort-of-cool Exorcist references aside, it commits many of the cardinal sins of drug awareness social marketing: It overstates the danger (showing a first-time use as immediately deadly); it's laughably cheesy; and it ends with a big lecture from "the man".

"Bath salts" are a nickname for a family of designer drugs typically containing substituted cathinones. According to Wikipedia, they have effects similar to meth and cocaine.

Not that that's a good thing. But these drugs are in widespread use among youth. When you only show the worst-case scenario for a recreational drug, you risk losing all credibility with any new user who experiences a good trip — or even knows someone who has had a few.

Craigslist post, or STI PSA?

Click to view.

It could be either. Check it out online while it lasts.

Text reads:

We met at Byrne's Pub on St. Patrick's Day - m4w - 27 (Columbus, OH)
Date: 2012-05-15, 8:52PM EDTReply to: crdkf-3017985583@pers.craigslist.org

---

We met at Byrne's Pub on St. Patrick's Day. You are a redhead that was wearing a white full length dress. I was in a white tshirt and black Utilikilt. We were both pretty drunk and hit it off immediately. You came back to my place with me around 6. I didn't have any condoms, but you didn't care. We had a great time before your friends called looking for you and we went back to the bar. You left shortly thereafter and we never traded numbers.
You gave me herpes. I hope you're proud of yourself.

• Location: Columbus, OH

• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 3017985583

The thing is, I have seriously considered trying to pitch a similar idea to clients, but they don't tend to like to intentionally break terms of use.

1980s War on Drugs PSAs do not age well #FdAdFriday

He is pitying the living fuck out of that fool.

Especially when they feature Mr. T and New Edition. (Although I'm not sure Bobby Brown should be giving any lectures about drugs.)



Via Buzzfeed

Louisville's bizarre breastfeeding ad is not helping the cause #FdAdFriday

Great. Many Americans are already weirded out by breastfeeding because they see breasts as single-function male titillators. But with this completely effed take on the unfortunate and played out "animated talking baby" format, they're just creeping people out even more.



Worst of all is the sped-up baby voice. It reminds me of "that high squeaky voice" of evil Toon in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not a good association.

The campaign means well, at least. In the United States, women of African ancestry have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates. It's an issue that needs addressing. But is the the best the mayor's Healthy Hometown initiative could come up with?

If you read this blog, you know how I feel about the issue. Breastfeeding is a marvellous and deeply human thing. This ad... is not.

Via Adfreak

Knight Rider's War on Drugs

In this 1985 PSA featuring David Hasselhoff in his Michael Knight character from the Knight Rider series, you can actually watch the American "War on Drugs" making a wrong turn:



As Knight discusses the drug issue with his artificially intelligent Trans-Am, KITT, the two end up clashing on social marketing theory. The car wants to do a rational campaign, based on statistics that paint a vague but ominous picture about the health effects of "drugs", but Knight says kids don't care about that. In the end, KITT gives up and suggests a direct appeal to authority:

"Illegal drugs are bad news. Don't mess with them."

It's true that bare statistics are not very effective social marketing messaging. Numbers are easy to ignore. You have to make consequences relevant, personal, and close if you want to really influence behaviour through fear.

Obviously, the writers of the ad thought they had a great solution to delivering the stats that their client wanted, but wrapped in a cool celebrity delivery. I'm sure they thought Hasselhoff was someone the teens would look up to, and the authoritarian tone is one that was popular in the Reagan era.

It's funny to look back at this now, though. Particularly when you can appreciate the irony of Hasselhoff warning kids about illegal drugs. The man, you see, had serious issues with a completely legal drug, alcohol:



There goes that message...

Update: This post was picked up by Copyranter on Buzzfeed.

These messages brought to you by #WorldWaterDay

It's World Water Day today, and I'm up to my baby blues in "real" work, so here's a compilation of classic water-related PSAs to remind us all of what's at stake if we don't keep our water resources clean and safe (hint: we all die).

Matt Damon's viral PSA "making of" freakout (contains F-bombs, via earthfirst.com)



Jennifer Connelly has to fetch water from Central Park to live (via search)



Wasting Water is Weird (via Osocio)



Sweden's controversial "dirty water" mom via (Adfreak)



A strikingly similar (and earlier) PSA from the UK (via The Next Good Idea)



Yet another execution of the same idea, again via AdFreak



And again, for UNICEF (via Ads of The World)



And, now for something completely different...

Surfrider Foundation: "Butts" (found via search)



The message is clear: Never take clean water for granted.