A week without advertising

I just got back from a week in Cuba. For Americans and others who have never visited, apart from the Communist dictatorship and the old cars, it's not that weird a place. People are friendly, tourist areas are well-developed, and they are very slowly starting to evolve into a more entrepreneurial economy.

However, for someone who spends the majority of his waking hours creating advertising and consuming social media, there were two major media differences between my world and theirs:

• Almost no commercial advertising, with the exception of nationally-owned brands; and
• Very limited access to wifi or any internet

Cubans are not officially allowed private internet access, to allow the regime to control what news they get from the outside world. They can access at specific public (presumably monitored) areas, and their mobile phones are voice and text only.

My hotel had wifi available in the lobby for a fee, and I could have roamed on a foreign data network, but it seemed like a good opportunity to put myself on a modern media fast. And man! Was that ever refreshing.

I have a reputation for being addicted to Facebook and Twitter, so when I came back home people were surprised that I didn't feel any withdrawal whatsoever. I'm glad I have access to digital media at home, but a short vacation from the 24-hour news cycle and the constant international networking opportunities did wonders for my state-of-mind.

The saddest thing I saw, at our resort, was Canadian and European teenagers hanging out in the lobby to keep their smartphones connected to their peers. They were right beside the finest beach in the Caribbean, surrounded by one of the world's most interesting national cultures, and they couldn't live without knowing what Becky said about Madison today. Their loss.

We even avoided turning on our hotel TV, with its international cable channels, so I literally did not see a private-sector ad all week. Every poster, every billboard, and even every graffiti in Varadero, Matanzas, and Havana was part of the government propaganda machine (see above). But even those communications were few and far between.

Even business signs (this one for Hemingway's hideout in Old Havana) are subtle.

It wasn't until I was stuck in the endless bureaucratic lineups to leave Varadero airport that I spotted what I recognized as advertising, albeit government-owned. And that's just because this Cuban tourism campaign runs in Canada all winter:

Advertising has been my livelihood for 25 years, so I certainly appreciate the industry. But what an interesting experience to be cut off from media saturation, even for a week. It really gives you a sense of perspective.

As Cuba-US relations begin to thaw, I hope my American friends will get a chance to see this country, with its oppressive government but irrepressible culture. Maybe they'll even find a way to somehow embrace democracy and a little capitalism without turning themselves into overstimulated media junkies.

Hotels4U ad brings up issues of old-world regional prejudice

Via The Mail

It's not just the old world. Here in Canada, Newfie jokes used to be as common as donuts. And in the States, Southern, Appalachian and even Midwestern accents and attitudes have often been fodder for satire.

But there's something especially interesting about the longstanding prejudices and modern hurt feelings brought on by regional stereotypes within the modern nations of Europe. When I lived in Italy, the Milanese told me they thought the Genoese were cheap, and the Sicilians criminal. The Sicilians said they thought the Milanese (and other northerners) were stuck up and avaricious. The whole North vs. South conflict is actually what brought Berlusconi, a northern nationalist, to power years ago.

My own ethnic homeland of England and the British Isles has similar cultural stereotypes and conflicts. Unlike the new world, the regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have centuries of separate political, cultural, and linguistic history. Just a few hundred years ago, dialects of "English" were mutually unintelligible in regions a day's journey apart.

Today, regional differences are still a source of pride among those who have not moved far from ancestral lands. Which might explain the controversy over this goofy little ad by Hotels4U:



First of all, could you understand what he was saying? I couldn't. It's apparently the campaign tagline, "Anything for you, cupcake," in a thick Birmingham accent.

The Daily Mail says that "Brummies" (another thing I learned today) are furious over the portrayal of their distinctive way of speaking, especially in the mouths of such tacky characters.

Here are some representative Tweets:

As a Brummie I honestly want an atomic bomb to land directly on that blokes head from the #hotels4u advert
— Kaine Able Barr (@kainebarr) January 28, 2014

Hotels4U please fuck off with your fake Brummie accent on your advert. No one talks like that here.
— Sophia ⚓ (@SophiaShikari) January 20, 2014

As a brummie who doesnt speak like the people in the Hotels4u ad I am offended by it. I consider it to be racist
— BamafanUK (@Bronxzoo10) January 28, 2014

"Racist"? Let that sink in for a minute. It reminds me of times when I have heard my fellow Canadians, who speak French, talk about language conflict in Canada as "racism". It really shows you how unscientific, and therefore universally useless the term "race" really is.

The Mail reveals that the actor playing the Birmingham husband, Craig Painting, is actually from the city.

Mike Hoban, marketing director for Hotels4u, stated: "We wanted to create a popular duo that people would warm to. That’s why we cast a Birmingham born and bred actor as our lead character. We wanted to use a friendly accent from one of the great UK regions to help create a distinctive character so that people remember how easy it is to save money on hotel bookings"

Distinctive? Certainly. And memorable. It could even be effective over the long term, as long as they don't end up getting boycotted by an entire offended region.

But is it right to use regional accents and stereotypes as ad fodder? Is it "racist"? Classist? Just plain rude?

Comments welcomed below.

Travel campaign offers a brutal take on mob mentality — but is it for real?

The submission on Ads of The World says "JWT, Gurgaon, India" but I have to give the J. Walter Thompson Company the benefit of my skepticism. The campaign is courting controversy in such a ham-fisted and immature way.

Above, the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot (mistakenly labelled "Football Riot") stands in for what Charles Mackay coined as "the madness of crowds". As an ad concept, it's tenuous at best, contrasting the idea of "individual travel plans" against mob mentality.

But the creative team of Bobby Pawar, Priti Kapur, Sayantan Choudhury, Sumeer Mathur
and Sumonto Ghosh didn't stop there.

They decided to go after American anti-abortionists:

Dog fights:

Toddlers in Tiaras:

Gun obsession:

And racism:

Pretty ballsy social commentary, but what does it have to do with selling travel? All I get out of it is that Indian tourists should avoid North America at all costs. (Interestingly, Chariot India "journeys of discovery to India, Nepal and Bhutan, in South Asia," so maybe that was the idea all along.)

To me, this is another example of belief in the stupid old adage that there's "no such thing as bad publicity".  There is... for brands. It's the creative teams and agencies that really benefit from these "edgy" campaigns, as the ad community congratulates them for convincing someone else to pay for another self-serving attempt at notoriety.

Expedia comes out with touching same-sex marriage travelogue

Apparently, One Million Moms haven't seen this yet. Expedia Travel joined the many American brands that are coming out in support of same-sex marriage when they launched this short as part of their "Find yours..." campaign:



The campaign line is, "We know that every trip is unique, personal and has the potential to be transformational. With more travel options than anyone else, we exist to help each individual find exactly what it is they are looking for."

About this video, they state, "On this trip, Artie Goldstein travels across the country to attend his daughter's same-sex wedding, a journey that will test him, challenge him, and ultimately change him in unexpected ways."

It's a nice statement about love and acceptance. Unfortunately, many others have taken to Expedia's Facebook page to make statements of hate and intolerance, as documented by Buzzfeed:

However, in the words of Dan Savage, it gets better. As of this writing, the most recent comments are overwhelmingly positive:

Sex tourism, or travel matchmaking?

One thing about working in advertising is you always wonder what's behind some of those sleazy online ads you see as you bounce around the internet.

Here's one I saw on fark.com:

Of course it's a scam, but I wanted to know how obvious a scam it was. So I went where few non-desperate people have gone before:

Okay, that's not too scary. It even makes clear on Google that it is not an escort site.

So what is it? Well, you can't get too far into that with a major breach of privacy.

There's only so much I'm willing to give up online. This is my real name, and I have a wife, a son, and a job. But fortunately others have made the ultimate privacy sacrifice in the interest of science.

According to this blog:

"As soon as you log in women will start sending you chat and email messages that can only be replied to if you are a paying member.  I can not believe with no picture or personal information some girl would text me in seconds. I think it was set up this way so guys would sign up for their premium service."

Someone else wrote:

"I've registered 8 (!) male accounts on Travelgirls.com on the same day. Without photo or any demographics info, exept country. So I suppose such account should not be interesting to any girl. All 8 my fake users got 5 messages from THE SAME 3 girls in ~30 minutes after registration. All those girls of course were very beautiful and had profiles with photos, but...one small problem :) They all were sending almost the same message to all users. For example all users got a message from a girl called Perla. My fake user from France got a message "invite me to France", fake user from Spain got message "Invite me to Spain", etc. So Perla asked all 8 fake guys to invite her to their native country, mentioned in profile. Another one girl Eva also sent message to all users: "Have you been to Kiev/Ukraine?". Also two more girls with russian names sent messages immediately to all users. I don't know what about are those messages, because premium membership is necessary to read them."

So it's basically a porn chat scam. Meh. But more scary exploitation of lonely guys is afoot:

"I met a girl from Belarus on this site; her name there is Baby_MUR. Her actual name, according to what she told me is Evgeniya Serzhan. I met her and for 2 weeks she gave me the impression she was truly interested in me and wanted to travel to the USA. I offered to buy her plane ticket if she could get the visa. She told me it shouldn't be a problem, but a couple of days afterward said the cost would be 150 eur and that her parents wouldn't help her. She asked if I could help and told me maybe she could do something in return for me. I told her we would work together and figure something out. The next day she told me she would borrow the money and go to the Embassy to apply for the visa and that was the last I heard from her. She will now no longer answer any of my messages on the site, answer her phone when I call, nor will she write me back when I send her e-mails. It seems obvious to me that all she wanted was my money and when I didn't offer to send her the 150 eur she decided to drop me and look for someone she might be able to sucker. In short that makes her a romance scammer/gold digger. By the way, I looked at the site for the US Embassy in Minsk and the site shows the cost of the visa to be $140 USD--a far cry from 150 eur, which is about $200 USD. Furthermore, she told me they would process the visa for her there, but the site information shows they are no longer processing tourist visas in Minsk and persons wanting one would have to visit Embassys in other countries for processing. Beware of this site because if there is one like this there are bound to be others as well."

Sad, sad, sad. But what about the girls? Are they real? The site itself asks for a login before clickthrough, but Google seems to have no problem accessing lower level pages directly:

I have no idea if these women are real or not. I don't really want to find out. But I do hope that none of them are being trafficked, or forced into the sex trade through poverty or circumstance.

The guys, by the way, are a little more shy...

Well, some of them...)

Why should I care? I guess there are two things the internet has done to me. First of all, by bringing me news of sex work, tourism, tragedy and scams from around the world, it has made me more aware of the underbelly of human nature. And second, even if I wanted to be blissfully ignorant, these ads would continue to intrude on my world with a reminder of theirs.

By the way, the site owner (it's registered in Lithuania) denies any liability for any real people who may get involved in this particular type of travel.

"4.1. This Site is a venue. Services provided by the Company do not include the introduction of users to one another. This Site is merely a venue for members and/or viewers to learn about one another and, if they wish, arrange stays with one another. The Company is not involved in the actual contact between members and/or viewers . As a result, the Company has no control over the conduct of members and/or viewers or the truth or accuracy of the information that members and/or viewers post on the Site.
4.2. The Company cannot and do not confirm purported identity of the members and/or viewers . Although the Company provides tools intended to assist you, you are responsible for determining the identity and suitability of others with whom you may match by means of this Site. The Company does not endorse any persons who use or register for the services which are provided by the Company. The Company does not investigate reputation of the members and/or viewers , conduct, morality, criminal background, or verify the information such of the members and/or viewers may submit to the Site. You shall communicate directly with potential hosts and guests through the tools available on the Site and to take the same precautions you would normally take when meeting a stranger in person for the first time.
4.3. You shall be solely responsible for your interactions with other members and/or viewers of this Site. The Company will not be responsible for any damage or harm resulting from your interactions with other members and/or viewers of this Site. The Company reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor interactions between you and other members and/or viewers of this Site and to take any other action in good faith to restrict access to or the availability of any material that the Company or another members and/or viewers of this Site may consider obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable.
4.4. Because this Site is merely a venue, in the event that you have a dispute with other members and/or viewers of this Site, you release the Company and officers, directors, members, employees, agents and affiliates of the Company from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
4.5. In-person meetings which are held by groups of interested members and/or viewers are not sponsored or organized by the Company. Members who organize meetings should make clear in their announcements, invitations and signage that their meetings have not been organized or approved, and are not run, by the Company. The Company cannot guarantee the quality, organization or safety of any in-person meeting (whether or not sponsored by us). Members attend meetings at their own risk."

Good luck with that...

Hey, look! A great Google ad.

Reminds me of a time when I looked up my hometown in an Italian travel guide. It listed the historic Plaza Hotel (home of Shakers Lounge) as a "small, central, and family-friendly hotel".

So while the concept feels like it has been done before, perhaps it's because to the budget traveller the experience is all too real. Social media may help some these days, but not always.

By BBDO Moscow
Via I Believe in Advertising

Hipmunk's expository supers are very un-hip

Not that it was a great ad without them, but if you're going to parody memes let your performance stand on its own merit. You don't need to label and link every one.

My God, it's a perfect ad!

Click to see larger version.

You don't see these very often. ACW Grey, Tel Aviv, Israel, created this for the Tzabar Travel Agency to promote packages to see Roger Waters in Paris.

Okay, so he's touring The Wall and not Dark Side of the Moon, but who cares? Using the Pyramide du Louvre was inspired.

Via I Believe in Advertising