This eel-farming video would make a (not-so-) great PETA ad

According to The Irish Times, this video was made to promote the Japanese city of Shibushi, to promote its local eel farmers.

The male narrator... describes how he had vowed to do all he could to nurture her. “I fed her delicious food until she was full, and allowed her to get plenty of sleep,” he says.
Seconds later viewers are treated to a close-up of eel being cooked on a barbecue grill. “We take great care when farming our eels,” says the narrator.

Indeed! The video has since been withdrawn by authorities, but not before it caused an uproar online.

Well-founded accusations of sexism aside, I find it ironic. The concept of anthropomorphizing animals we eat is a common tactic used by PETA:

Either way, the image of women as pieces of meat is pretty unpalatable.

Thanks to KP for the tip!

#carbonaragate: Marketing fail, or brilliant troll?

Europeans are very entertaining sometimes.

Last month, French lifestyle site demotivateur posted a video recipe for a pasta "alla Carbonara" that was nothing like the eggy spaghetti dish beloved by Italians.

Even among Italians, there are variations in the recipe, which is a "tradition" less than a century old. However, the French version almost seemed like a parody of French food by Italians. Dry pasta, bacon, and onions are simmered in water, then the mix is tossed in crème fraîche and cheese and pepper sprinkled on. Finally, a raw egg yolk is cracked on top. What?

The video went viral in Italy, according to Huffington Post, with Italians loudly bemoaning the "death of carbonara."

But let's look at that video again.

Nice product placement, eh? When I first saw the original video (now gone) I swear I saw Barilla branding at the end as well. I suspect, as some Italian commenters do, that this was just a piece of content marketing gone awry.

And yet the company denied everything on the Sai cosa mangi? Facebook Page, and offered a link to alternative recipes on their own site.

So, either this was rogue content marketing by Barilla's French team that went very badly, or it was a brilliant trolling of Italians. Either way, Barilla is benefiting from clicks, mentions, and visits by outraged Italians and curious foreigners.

Hmmm...

Toronto Yellow Pages billboard celebrates multiculturalism by negating it

Facebook friend Audra Williams shared this photo of a Yellow Pages billboard in Toronto.

Funny, eh?

If you just answered "yes" I want you to look in the mirror. Are you a white person? A man? Of "generic" (primarily British or Northern European) ethnicity? Are you from the 1950s? Do you live in a goddamn bubble?

Because let me tell you, I'm pretty sure the creative team who thought this up, and anyone who approved it, were at least two of those things.

This billboard, posted publicly in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, is a problem for me. It reads as a conversation between one white guy like me and another, and in doing so it casts everyone who grew up with Vietnamese, Cuban or Central/South American food into the category of "others".

In rattling off a joke about multiculturalism, the ad actually negates the very people who make Toronto multicultural: "Vietnamese restauranteur, we love your exotic soup, but you're not really one of us."

I have no doubt that the agency team meant well, or at least thought they did. They were just so out-of-touch with the reality of Canada that they thought is was OK to have a major brand jokingly exclude a large number of the people who walk by its billboard, just because they didn't grow up on peanut butter sandwiches.

I won't even get into the sexist implications of "mom" making all the food, because it's just a lazy cliché.

UPDATE: Audra got them to agree to pull it

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.

A message from the False Advertising Industry about "natural" foods

Adfreak just shared this hilarious takedown of weasel words in food advertising:



The irony here is that, worldwide, "Organic" is a certification that is not as absolute as you might think. And the health benefits of organic foods are always in question. (In our household, we're more concerned about farmers' exposure to toxins.) But it's still a fun bit of advocacy.

McDonald's (Canada) wants you to see how McNuggets are made

We've all seen the image. Pink goop that looks like strawberry ice cream gets extruded from a machine. It's claimed to be everything from ammonia-treated beef to Chicken McNuggets. It's this generation's version of "worms in the burgers."

The picture is real, and it shows highly-processed chicken that has been mechanically-separated from odds and ends of birds. But it's not how McNuggets are made. At least, not now.

The following video is one of the latest efforts by McDonald's Canada to be more transparent about its ingredients. And if you're used to dealing with meat, it's not even that gross:



Personally, I'm more concerned with how the chickens were housed, fed, slaughtered and processed before they hit the grinders — not to mention how well the meat is monitored for contamination and most of all how the workers are treated.

You can read a hilarious PR blog full of doublespeak here. (My favourite line: "From Alive Chicken to Not-Alive Chicken.") However, when I read that "80-90,000 chickens are processed daily" I am not exactly reassured.

But whatever your personal sensitivities are about the meat industry, it's at least fair to say the McNuggets didn't come from "pink slime."

The McRib, on the other hand...

13 most popular posts of 2013

Since starting this bog, almost five years ago,  I've been working to find my niche among ad bloggers.

I'm still working on it. As you'll see from the list below, scandal still "sells" the most clicks online. While I don't purposely write for linkbait, I've learned my lesson about the SEO dangers of putting the words "teen," "sexting" and "nudity" in the same headline. I have a feeling I disappointed a few creeps with that one...


#13 This is how you do sex in advertising

I was a little worried at first, with the lesbian fetish cliché of the two women kissing, but when bethonged spokesman Brandon Allen gets in bed with the threesome, the ad achieves a kind of self-deprecating charm and irony.


#12 No, this is not a "real" Russian Tampax ad

This nasty little clip, which is making the viral rounds of HuffPo, LiveLeak, etc., is not a "Russian Tampax Ad". According to its own YouTube "about" section, it's a promotional video for the bizarre mess known as "Movie 43".


#11 Can this kind of teaser campaign still be effective?

It's like a combination of the fictional Gabbo! campaign from The Simpsons and early meme site Zombo.com.

So what is it for? I'm not that curious, really. I'm more interested in seeing if such an old-school teaser campaign can still work, without either being prematurely outed or simply forgotten about before it reaches critical mass.


#10 This push-up bra gag has been done before

Seem familiar? You might be thinking of a similar Dutch campaign, starring Andrej Pejić, from a couple of years ago.


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

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.

#8 Billboard celebrating "remarkable women" shows only men

The men are all donors to the campaign. Which is great. And the campaign itself is a good one. But the paternalism of the billboard, even if unintentional, is baffling.

#7 This could be the worst Facebook ad of all time

If you don't recognize the face in the ad, that's Rehtaeh Parsons, a Canadian teen who committed suicide last April after being raped at a party while too intoxicated to consent, and experiencing extreme online sexual harassment and abuse when photos of the crime were circulated among her peers.

Whether the company used the photo accidentally or on purpose is unknown. The web site the ad directs to is no longer online.

#6 Advertising rape culture in anti-rape campaigns

Victim-blaming. It's ugly, it's hurtful, and it's doing nothing to stop people from raping other people.

In the aftermath of the Steubenville rape trial, in which two teenage men were convicted of raping and humiliating an unconscious teenage woman, it's time we had another look at what these supposedly-helpful ads are saying. 

#5 Pussy Riot appropriated again, this time by Vanessa Hudgens

I've written before, both here and on Osocio, about the appropriation of anarcho-feminist group Pussy Riot's knitted balaclava brand. Here's the latest sighting, from former Disney star Vanessa Hudgens'  '$$$ex' Teaser Video.

#4 Low-fat cheese brand makes fun of diet industry clichés aimed at women 

More and more brands are realizing that the best way to reach women is to make fun of the way everyone else tries to reach women.

The menstruation products industry has been doing this for years. Fashion, too. So low-cal foods might as well get into the action. And who knows cheese better than a cheese manufacturer?

#3 This vintage ad illustration makes photoshopped ads look realistic by comparison

Portraying unrealistic body types in ads and fashion is nothing new.

#2 "You're not the first" to do this awful, sexist concept, either

Aston Martin says in their blog that the ad is fake. But it's been done for real, several times.

#1 Parenting magazine shock advertises with "teen" sexting image (partial nudity)

Don't panic — it's an ad. The models are obviously adults. But is using a titillating image a good idea, even if it's saying "we're against that sort of thing"? It's as if the all-male creative team at Jung von Matt were a little too into this one. As a result, in my opinion, they just end up contributing to the problem of adults fetishizing teen sexuality.

Well, that's it for 2013. Happy New Year, and thanks for reading.

Literal "Food Porn" promotes Guide des Restos 2014

My oh my! Reader Cassandria sent me this naughty foodie campaign by Publicis  for a Quebec restaurant guide, shot by Leda & St. Jacques.

ufunk explains (translated) that it's "a rather naughty and risqué poster campaign playing on the ambiguity of the" 18 + "for its 18th edition."

I have no idea why my social media friends would think of me when they saw this...

The only problem is see is that some of them are rather contrived. The concept has been done before, without so much awkward manipulation required. Hell, I would have loaned them this heirloom carrot if they'd asked.

Is "Peel the Top Off a Hottie" degrading to women?

Yes.

YES!



YES!!!

Actually, it's degrading to men too. And soup. And public transit.

This could be the worst mainstream campaign I've seen all summer. And it's from Mother London.

Tip, images and video via Copyranter.

Self-promo video gives new meaning to "food porn"

Lots of agencies and production houses use online video as a way to get noticed. But very few are as sharable as the one NYC boutique studio Kornhaber Brown has just unleashed. It's about sex, which always sells, but it's also deliciously, purposefully awkward in the way it represents various sex acts using food (and a few small appliances).

While technically "safe for work" in that no actual human sexual organs are shown, you may want to get the headphones out if you work in a prudish open-concept office.



Did the chocolate banana make you squirm?

Source: Gawker

Update: Cindy Gallop tells me that the video was inspired by her "Make Love Not Porn" site.

Does anyone else find the new Kraft peanut butter bears a little creepy?

Via Kraft Canada

This morning, I happened upon a group of colleagues scrutinizing a jar of Kraft peanut butter. As ad people, we are overly sensitive to changes in branding.

Consensus? Creepy. "It looks like they're looking at you through a peephole" said one.

"They remind me of Pedobear" was my contribution.

"What?" was the response?

So I had to school these innocent young women in the dark ways of the internet. 

"Pedobear" is a really gross and disturbing internet meme popular with people who find pedophilia jokes amusing. It's characterized as a cartoon bear (above) that sexually attacks children. 

Meanwhile, the teddy bears on Kraft peanut butter jars have been part of fond Canadian childhood memories for generations.

Via VincentAbry.com

Damn you, internet...

Low-fat cheese brand makes fun of diet industry clichés aimed at women

More and more brands are realizing that the best way to reach women is to make fun of the way everyone else tries to reach women.

The menstruation products industry has been doing this for years. Fashion, too. So low-cal foods might as well get into the action. And who knows cheese better than a cheese manufacturer?



Adfreak's Rebecca Cullers writes,

...the truly subversive content is in the jingle which asks, "How many clichés are we gonna stand?" There is more than a passing jibe toward Special K, whose red and white color pallet and blue-jean obsession is mocked. And the spot ends with a furious montage of women measuring and weighing themselves as the jingle sings, "They know they bring us down, but it's for our own good, cause we gotta keep you girls all feeling bad about food."

You can follow the campaign on Facebook, where you can make your own "bad ad".

The Pizza Burger wants you to eat one for all those who couldn't

Via campaign site

Cheeseburgers and pizza are my two favourite foods in the world. But not together. That would be an abomination.

Boston Pizza disagrees:



It's an amusing campaign, by Taxi Canada. But I can't help but be a little uneasy when I think of all the people in the world who still can't indulge in this kind of Epic Meal Time kind of thing. I guess that's the nature of our society, though. We keep looking for the most decadent food experience possible, just because we can.

But should we? That's up to you. And your digestive system, which might not be impressed if you throw one of these at it:

"Add gravy for $1.65"

Egg brand wants you to "get locally laid"

Being a product of the reproductive process, eggs are a natural fit with sexually suggestive marketing. Or are they?

Consumerist's Mary Beth Quirk implants her tongue firmly in her cheek as she writes, "So you know how like, women are sometimes referred to as 'chicks,' and then also so are baby chickens? Well someone has finally had the marketing smarts to unite the two in what is a pretty chuckle-worthy company identity. Of course that company sells eggs that are 'locally laid.' Get it?"

Yes. I do get it. If you go to this Minnesota company's site, you are treated to even more punnery:

Whether you find it clever or stupid, the good news is that the company is actually a small, sustainable, family operation. Jason Amundsen, who gave himself the title "Head Clucker" is the dad in a family of four who claims he was inspired by Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and environmentalist farmer Joel Salatin.

His wife, Lucie Amundsen, calls herself "Marketing Chick" and she "promises never to use the term “Eggs-cellent” in any Locally Laid promotional material." 

The puns may be brutal, but the eggs sound pretty good.

McDonald's Australia offers supply-chain transparency app

The changing consumer perception of food is starting to have a real influence on fast food chains. In 2011, McDonald's USA started a "farm to fork" campaign about their ingredient sourcing. Last year, McDonald's Canada launched an "ask us anything" site to try to dispel urban legends about their food. Now, according to Burger Business, McDonald's Australia (Known there as "Macca") has gone even further with the marketing transparency, creating an app that can source the farms and producers who created the ingredients for your actual meal. This video explains:

Burger Business writes:

In its Facebook film explaining the app, McDonald’s admits that there remains “some confusion about just how real our food is,” despite its having spent many years and tried a variety of approaches to explaining its food sourcing and preparation. No amount of food-quality information will suffice for some fast-food haters, vegetarian activists and food elitists, but McDonald’s has provided far more transparency on this issue for a longer time than has any other QSR chain.

I'll give McDonald's points for effort, if not for the actual products. Supporting local farmers and producers is great. Pushing highly-processed packages of sugar, salt and fat on families... somewhat less so. But it's great to see big brands reacting to grassroots change.

Nigella Lawson refuses to be airbrushed

I've come to have a real appreciation of Nigella Lawson. She loves food, she looks like she loves life, and she has an undeniable lusty appeal. So I was cheered to read on Buzzfeed that she wouldn't let the ABC's team "airbrush" (Photoshop) out her belly in posters and billboards for an upcoming foodie reality show.

She wrote on her blog:

Although it was very thrilling to think of being up on a billboard in LA and around the States, I was very strict and English and told them they weren't allowed to airbrush my tummy out. Wise? Hmmm. But that tum is the truth and is come by honestly, as my granny would have said.

It may be a cynical marketing move for a woman who has marketed herself brilliantly all along. But as a female celebrity, she has had to endure her share of obsessive body analysis by media. So it's nice to see her owning it.

HP: The Official Brown Sauce of Yobs?

Lucy Clark, senior brand manager at HP, told The Drum:

"As this is the first HP TV advert in five years, we wanted to implement a high-impact multimedia campaign around it that’s packed full of attitude and grabs the attention of younger male consumers, reminding them that the big, bold flavour of HP Sauce is the ultimate sauce of manliness for a bacon sandwich.”

Ultimate sauce of manliness? Oh.



Carrie Hindmarsh, CEO at M&C Saatchi, said of their work:

“At last, after a five year absence, HP is back with a brand new campaign – to reveal the simple, unvarnished truth about modern men. This ad neatly sums up what modern manliness means – a love of sport, mastering DIY and of course, HP Sauce.”

The campaign is aimed at men between the ages of 25 and 44, who buy into the "we're just a bunch of stupid little boys who are not responsible for our actions" trope.

I know, I know. It's humour. It's also an example of what Sociological Images' Lisa Wade has called "an anti-intellectualism that is specifically male."

It looks fairly harmless, and it probably is. And advertising does not create social trends, it reflects and reinforces them. I'm just saying that it is a tired and annoying one. Even if it ends up selling more "sauce of manliness" to those who like to be categorized this way.

Also, "Manwich"? Taken:

Really taken:

I wonder how the "ultimate sauce of manliness" works into that one?

Can man live on bacon alone? Oscar Mayer is giving it a shot

Have bacon, will travel.

That's the idea behind Oscar Mayer's clever new online campaign. They're sending a man across the United States with no money. All he has is a van full of Oscar Mayer bacon to barter for non-bacon food, lodging, and other expenses.



The campaign offers people along the route to make barter offers with "Josh Sankey" via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.

I'm not a big fan of factory farmed and mass-processed bacon. But as far as marketing is concerned, this is pretty damn tasty.

Tip via NY Times

Organic market billboard offers sexual Rorschach test

Via Copyranter

"Vat do you zee here? Now tell me about your muzzah..."

The photo montage for "Canadian cuisine" on Wikipedia is kind of embarrassing

"A small sampling of Canadian foods. Top to bottom, left to right: Montreal-style smoked meat, Maple syrup, Peameal bacon, Butter tart, Poutine, Nanaimo bar"

Yep, that's what we eat. That, and Vachon cakes.

Not really. The problem is that most of our cuisine west of Montreal is not greatly differentiated from the American food on the other side of the border, so we're stuck referencing things our southern cousins would consider quirky. And, of course, we love our "ethnic" food that the later immigrants brought.

Fortunately, Quebec and Atlantic Canada have more distinctive culinary traditions. (So does Aboriginal culture in the north and elsewhere, but it hasn't found much of a mass market outside of the ingredient contributions of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, squashes, etc.)

Don't give up on Ontario and the rest of the provinces, though. We just need more history to happen.