Maybe this ironic contextual ad placement is a good thing

This was supposed to be a post about something else. Over the weekend, Twitter user @mazface posted  a picture of a card for sale at a British Halmark store that seemingly ripped off the sexist "demotivator" parody poster above.

The Demotivators meme has been around for years. A company called Despair Inc. sells hilarious parodies of those cliché motivational posters that showed up in offices and gyms back in the '90s. It's a very old joke, but for a decade or so Despair Inc. has also allowed users to make their own demotivational posters using a generator app. Just like with meme generators, by giving anyone the ability to create professional-looking captioned images online, it has become a default medium for making and sharing jokes of varying quality.

So anyway, if Hallmark is selling cards printed with a stolen, sexist, and rather weak joke, that's shameful. But let's get back to the screencap at the top for 500Motivators, which came up in a Google search for the source image.

Because I Am A Girl is a global campaign to promote gender equality in the developing world by supporting the provision of education and resources to girls in need. I really like this cause. I've written about their Canadian ad campaigns, and my son sponsors a girl through the program. 

The fact that BIAAG Canada's Google ad was served up on this site isn't particularly remarkable. But that it appeared above this particular image is.

You could call it a contextual "fail" —  I won't. The internet is full of this garbage. But seeing an ad for a girl-positive movement in such a space reminds me of activists and social workers who brave wretched hives of scum and villainy to provide a positive message of hope. 

Girls are the answer. Not only to poverty, but also to the internet's obsession with women as sex objects.

Dove provides yet another new perspective on beauty

Dove Canada would like you to think twice about your perception of beauty. 

According to their Newswire release, the ads "spark a conversation around how extreme re-touching of images can go unnoticed and can distort a woman's perception of beauty." 

It also adds, "ATTENTION PHOTO EDITORS:  Image provided should be run upside down to deliver full impact of campaign."

But since turning non-mobile computers upside down to decode a print ad is rather awkward, here it is:

Her eyes and mouth had been digitally flipped so that they looked normal when you saw them upside down, but when you turned... yikes!

Inversion illusions are not new to advertising, and were once even used to make dirty jokes:

Here's an example of the same trick: (You may recognize the smile)

Dove's campaign leads to  their Canadian Facebook page, where they hope to engage girls in a more positive discussion about beauty. "The Real Truth About Beauty Research",  conducted by Dove, found that only 9% of Canadian girls (10-17) and 3% of women are comfortable calling themselves beautiful.

And to add a little cross-mojination to my blog, here's that ad run through the Ugly Meter I blogged about earlier:

Oh, my!

Tip via Because I Am A Girl Canada

This Easter, give someone a real bunny to eat

Horrified vegetarians and rabbit-lovers aside, it's actually a great cause. For a $35 donation, Plan Canada will add matching funds and send an orgy of six sex-crazed rabbits to a family in the developing world to breed for food.

According to the site:

"Working out the math for this gift could keep anyone hopping. Six rabbits, which can breed up to 10 bunnies every 31 days, can also create an instant business for a family. That business means food on the table and an income to pay for housing, healthcare and education. All of which adds up to families in charge of their lives, children with opportunities, and hope that will reproduce just as rapidly as this gift."

Thanks to Because I am a Girl Canada for the great gift idea that can start to reverse the karma of all that non-fairtrade chocolate you've probably eaten.

Attention hoarding for a cause

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I love the new social media landscape. But every once in a while, as I walk through my city, I am reminded that I am also still in love with one of the oldest ad media in existence: hoarding posters:

This campaign, from Plan Canada, shows how good old fashioned physical presence can still dominate the attention of an audience.

The campaign,"Because I Am a Girl",  is "a global campaign to claim a brighter, safer future for girls. Investing in girls is key to eliminating poverty and creating a better world."

The campaign is a combination of membership drive, fundraising, and awareness for the women in poverty.

The statistics are chilling:

• 70 per cent of the one billion people living in extreme poverty are women and girls.
• Girls are 3x more likely to be malnourished than boys.
• Over 60 million girls are denied access to primary school.

But the opportunities are inspiring:

• An extra year of school for girls will increase their lifetime income by 10-20%.
• Children of women who have completed primary school are less likely to die before age 5 than children of mothers with no schooling.
• Women who do work reinvest 90% of their income back into their household.

The Because I Am A Girl campaign funds projects to promote water and food security, health care and education and microfinancing livelihoods in Africa, South Asia and South America.

If you'd like to help, visit their site and register, or join their Facebook page.