Honey Maid redefines "wholesome" for the modern world #thisiswholesome

This is a sweet little campaign. Jumping on the bandwagon with Oreo, Cheerios and others, Honey Maid (Nabisco) is the latest brand to give mainstream validation the kind of family diversity that has become the new normal in the West:



Not exactly Earth-shattering stuff, just keeping up with the times. But that doesn't keep reactionaries like One Million Moms from ordering a boycott:

Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads. This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome. The ad states, "Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family. This is wholesome." 

One Million Moms stands up for Biblical truth which is very clear in Romans 1:26-27 about this particular type of sexual perversion. 

Honey Maid is also using the hashtag #thisiswholesome. There is concern about the way this ad is pushing the LGBT agenda, but an even greater concern is the way that they are changing the meaning of the word "wholesome."

There are more videos, showcasing the different families:











Oh, the sin! Loving families, showing more similarity than difference in their values.

The product is just a line of packaged, junk snack foods for kids. It's not exactly what I'd call "wholesome".

But the ads? (By Droga5 N.Y.) They're pretty well-intentioned. Nicely done.

Benetton goes back to advertising actual clothes

Via The Drum

Yeah, that's right. After years of pushing the boundaries of shock advertising, culminating with 2011's extremely popular/controversial Unhate campaign, Benetton suddenly remembered what it is that they sell: Not just attitude, but the means to express it.

From the Press Release:

The future of United Colors of Benetton is ever more colourful. Newly interpreted, color returns to the forefront in an iconic Spring/Summer 2013 fashion campaign which uses the original stories of a cosmopolitan team of ambassadors to illustrate United Colors of Benetton's passion, innovation and openness to the world, looking to the future and embracing the challenges of tomorrow.  

This campaign breaks new ground for the Benetton Group brand. Starting this season and using an ever changing set of ambassadors, it rolls out a totally new format based – in the words of Chairman Alessandro Benetton – on “the iconic value of color – a founding value for United Colors of Benetton and once again at the centre of our aesthetics and communications – to give a powerful assertion of the identity and excellence of this brand, which holds diversity as a value, and the unity of differences as a wealth to be treasured.” 

The 2013 campaign features Sudanese humanitarian activist Alek Wek (above), Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, British actress/model/granddaughter-of-Charlie-Chaplin Kiera Chaplin, Californian mode Charlotte Free, British actor and model Dudley O’Shaughnessy, differently-abled German model Mario Galla, Uruguayan chef Matias Perdomo, trans-sexual Brazilian model Lea T, , and American model Elettra Wiedemann.

Charlotte Free, via Vogue Italia

Dudley O’Shaughnessy, via Vogue Italia

Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, via Vogue Italia

Kiera Chaplin, via Vogue Italia

Lea T, via Vogue Italia

Mario Galla, Via Vogue Italia

Elettra Wiedemann, via Vogue Italia

Matias Perdomo, via Vogue Italia

Not exactly all the "colours" of the world represented here (and nobody is fat or old) but Benetton claims they chose their models more based on who they are than where they came from. It's a good approach, going back-to-basics, while still clearly positioning Benetton as a brand for global diversity and individual expression. It may not win them a lot of hardware at Cannes, but by showing the product maybe... just maybe...  they'll actually sell more of it.

The campaign was developed under the creative direction of Fabrica (in-house) in cooperation with Macs Iotti.

Hotel chain that loves Mitt Romney also loves women who love women

According to Buzzfeed Politics, Marriott International "once counted Mitt Romney as a corporate board member" and its owner "is among the candidate's top donors."

They have also launched a campaign targeted to gay women called "Be you, with us". Which is cool.

And this is no stealth campaign. From the press release: 

“We are proud of this campaign and of our long-standing reputation for our commitment to diversity and inclusion,” says Joanna Todd, vice president, segment strategy.  “Our core strength lies in our ability to embrace differences and make everyone feel respected and valued when they visit and stay in our hotels.  Later this year, we will also launch new campaigns to reach African American and Latino audiences.”

The campaign is by UniWorld Group, Inc., Marriott’s Multicultural Marketing agency, along with the company’s LGBT communications specialist, Bob Witeck, President of Witeck Communications. 

The Lesbian and Gay Travel section of their web site adds:

We’re proud to say Marriott was one of the first hotel companies to offer equal benefits to same-sex couples nationwide, earning us top ratings on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. 

We want our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender guests to feel at home at every Marriott property. We invite you to explore Pride celebrations around the globe, find special travel offers and packages, and discover all the ways we’re celebrating with you.

Which is awesome. But it should be interesting to see what happens when the worlds of Mitt "marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman" Romney and "Be you, with us" collide.

As they certainly will, once One Million Morons Moms gets a whiff of this...

The Shat does O Canada

Do you know how I know we're living in the future?

My 69-year-old Mom, who has an iPhone and texts, Skypes and Facetimes me regularly as she travels the world, shared this cool NFB video with me via Facebook message:



(If you can't see it, click here)

Here's the official explanation:

When William Shatner gets a Lifetime Achievement Award from Canada's Governor General, he shows appreciation as only Shatner can. In this short film, the most famous space cadet in showbiz takes helm of our heritage and treats us to a memorable rendition of Canada's national anthem.

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2011 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

I would also like to mention that my Mom has gone from small town '50s good girl and '60s housewife to feminist handywoman, straight gay rights activist, and most recently as the United Church of Canada's equivalent to an elected Bishop.

Thanks, Mom. William Shatner is awesome. But you, you are even awesomer.

Diversity progresses awkwardly in the strangest places

Just watch this ad, then we'll talk:



Now, first let's put aside that it's an ad for an online betting service. Then let's decide to temporarily overlook the stereotyped South Asian waiter.

Okay, done? Now let's talk about how disabled people are portrayed in this spot.

According to utalkmarketing.com, this ad has been pre-emptively banned from airplay by Clearcast, the UK TV regulator.

"A Clearcast spokesperson said that they were concerned about the 'juvenile behaviour' portrayed in an advert for a betting company and that the advert could be seen as 'offensive' in the way that the men with disabilities were portrayed.

'It could be considered that they were being laughed at and at the butt of the joke rather than being in control of their situation,. she added. 'We would never ban a disabled person from an advert, but they need to be portrayed in positive and feisty way, in control of their situation.'"

The client, Paddy Power (whose name also makes me go "hmmmm..."), counters: "As a brand, Paddy Power looks to display a fun and irreverent look on life and those ‘ground open up and swallow me’ moments we’ve all experienced are certainly such occasions.”

So we're supposed to be focussed on the waiter, and the fact that he has been "run" out on, rather than the blokes in the wheelchairs. Paddy Power is then able to explain how, by comparison, they are a safe bet because they guarantee payout.



But back to the guys in the wheelchairs. utalkmarketing.com points out that one of them is wearing a Hearts & Balls rugby shirt. It's a UK charity that helps out people disabled by rugby-related injuries, and their families. Why is it in there?

I suspect, and this is just me being optimistic, that there is a tiny seed of desire in this spot that wants to grow into the idea that people in wheelchairs are "just ordinary blokes" who do the things able-bodies rugby yobs might do. It's unfortunately stunted by the comical getaway scene at the doorway. But just imagine if the guys had slipped away in a more subtle manner, then rolled down the street at top speed when they were caught. That would have been progress towards my dream world where people with physical disabilities are seen as people first — even flawed people — and their disabilities are just an afterthought.

Personally, I'm more offended by the portrayal of the waiter. "That's the second time today they've done that!" He might as well have been played by Rowan Atkinson or the late Peter Sellers.

There are two other ads in the series. One is pretty funny, the other one painfully awkward:





What do you think? Do I give these bookies too much credit?

Advertising in the post-racist era

Yeah, I know we're not there yet. Racism is alive and well all over the world. But I'm still seeing signs of an evolved view of our differences. This viral ad is one of them:



Created by video commandos Rhett and Link, this ad is for real. And it's awesome. I'll tell you why.

My personal ideal regarding racism is that within my lifetime it will be normal to ignore the physical differences between people that we call "race" (as opposed to cultural differences, which are a whole other ball of wax). The categories we have put people into since colonial times are useless and arbitrary. It's time to move on.

But coming to the end of an extremely racist 500 years or so, we can't just pretend the problem isn't there. That's where satire comes in.

For example, way back in 2000, the satirical newspaper/web site The Onion ran a hilarious article titled "Black Guy Photoshopped In". It was funny because this kind of thing really happens. In fact, around the same time the University of Wisconsin at Madison was caught doing exactly that:



This issue is also close to my heart as a Creative Director who works on lots of government and other "politically correct" accounts. Casting models and actors for ads is one of the most uncomfortable things we do, because we spend hours planning out the visible ethnic makeup of people. As my colleague Christopher commented, "we spend so much time thinking about the very thing we don't think we should be thinking about".

You can see some of our solutions in our ads. For example, for Public Safety Canada, we portrayed a multigenerational family with a black mom, white dad, black son, and white grandma. While this was a contrived scenario, what made me feel good about it was that nobody seemed to notice the diversity. That's exactly what we were aiming for. (The fireman has an Asian look, too, in case you didn't notice.)

Another one is our HRSDC "baby" commercial for federal education savings plans. When we had to provide the casting director with notes for ethnicity, we said "Mediterranean". The idea was that if we got a bunch of olive-skinned, ethnically ambiguous actors who looked like a family, we were avoiding the problem of identifying a single nationality. For your reference, mom is Egyptian, the baby is French Canadian, and he grows up Italian. Will wonders never cease! Once again, neither focus groups nor public audiences commented on ethnicity. Considering that Toronto groups are infamous for critiquing the diversity of illustrated storyboards, this was a real win.

Diversity is important, and our job as advertisers is to normalize a more diverse Canada without looking fake. To remind ourselves to be conscious of the fine line we tread (and to avoid Onioning ourselves like UWM did) I created this demotivational poster for my office: