Scottish anti-independence ad goes "bad" viral #PatronisingBTlady

Last one. This is too funny. @_Pandy storyboards #PatronisingBTLady ad. @robertflorence pic.twitter.com/Oq4IsIqSVs
— James Lees (@jamesvsburger) August 26, 2014

You might wonder what they were thinking.

The "no" movement in the Scottish independence referendum, Better Together, recently released this video ad featuring a woman soliloquizing at home after sending off her husband and kids:



Almost immediately, a backlash began. Under the hashtag #PatronisingBTlady, an explosion of memes started circulating to criticize the gendered clichés around a stay-at-home housewife who finds politics confusing:

Perfect summary of the new @UK_Together campaign video. Targeted at woman - but so patronising? #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/FePthazKYB
— Greg indyref (@YesIndyref) August 26, 2014

MISSING: Brow-beaten male, late 30s-early 40s, last seen in Co-op buying "Ricicles"... #indyref #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/uEUIp6nZ4s
— Oisean (@OssiansDream) September 1, 2014

Better Together's new ad sees ridicule and #PatronisingBTLady meme backlash on Twitter http://t.co/UIZHIv16M0 pic.twitter.com/1J8njhFIXw
— The Drum (@TheDrum) August 27, 2014

I had to… #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/oCOEimOgHU
— CakeQuestEdin (@CakeQuestEdin) August 26, 2014

The viral activity has since spilled over into mainstream media in the UK. However, the people behind the campaign defend it:

Despite the fact the film has created a vociferous internet response punctuated by a series of caustic retaliatory memes, campaign director Blair McDougall has defended the piece’s cinematic integrity. McDougall suggests the piece is flavored with social realism. 

The ad uses words“taken verbatim from conversations on doorstops with undecided women voters,”and from the“opinion of women in dozens of focus groups around the country,”he claimed. While the ad has heightened the campaign’s profile considerably, the precise nature of publicity it has garnered may not be warmly welcomed.

Certainly, there are individual women in Scotland who resemble the stereotype. But does that mean it's something that should be reinforced in a national advertising campaign?

Scottish social anthropologist (and "Yes" man) weighed in with a meme of his own:

#patronisingBTlady #indyref pic.twitter.com/shpcb5vt8O
— Michael Swann (@notarealswan) August 26, 2014

But the real question is whether this ad will sway any voters. And moreover, which way will it sway them?

By participating in "hot criminal" memes, are we ruining these people's lives forever?

Facebook

 Jeremy Meeks, a 30-year-old California man who is the accidental subject of the ridiculous #FelonCrushFriday meme, is just the latest victim of the internet's casual dehumanization of people whose images go viral.

Arrested for felony weapon charges by the Stockton Police Department on June 18, he ended up having his mugshot featured on the police Facebook Page. Things rapidly spun out of control, with his face being photoshopped all over the place. While there have been mentions of modelling contracts later on, in reality he will probably be forgotten about in a couple of weeks.

NY Post

Speaking of which, does the name Meagan McCullough (now Simmons) ring a bell? Two years ago, she was given the same treatment when her mugshot, for drunk driving in Florida, also went viral. A legal line was crossed, however, when her image was used (without permission) for advertising. She ended up suing checkmate.com, an online background check service, for using her face on a banner ad.

Why do we feel the need to participate in these free-for-alls at someone's expense? Is it any better if you're paying them a compliment, rather than denigrating them?

Well, here's the thing. While internet users have the short-term memory of drunken goldfish, the internet itself never forgets. Popular images get indexed and brought up in search after search. Both Mr. Meeks and Ms. Simmons will appear whenever someone is doing searches about "convicts," "mugshots," or "criminals" — especially if keywords about looks are added. No matter what they may try to do to clear up their lives, these mistakes have the kind of permanence that you're unlikely to experience outside of a small town.

Just today, this showed up on my Facebook feed, from an unscrupulous advertiser:

It won't be the last time.

Domino's pizza targets bad home cooks with "food fails"

Ads Of The World

I doubt there's one popular internet photo meme that doesn't get turned into an ad campaign. In this case, it's "Food Fails" — pictures of really pathetic dishes shared on Tumblr, Instagram or elsewhere (Two of my favourites are Dimly Lit Meals for One, and the stomach-churning Cooking For Bae.)

Ads Of The World

This campaign by Artplan, Brazil, is sort-of funny. But personally, I find the execution lacks finesse. Why not just show the resulting dish, the Domino's logo, and a phone number to order?

Ads Of The World

That said, I can't help but point out that poor cooking skills are a major contributor to poor diet.  And the decades-long push for cheap, tasty and convenient fast food continues to erode these basic life skills.

Via Attic Paper

Via Country Chic Mom

Do we really need fast food brands telling us that we shouldn't bother making our own food?

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...

Grumpy Cat meme hijacked for anti-teen-drinking billboard

Add caption

According to AdFreak's Rebecca Cullers, this ad is up in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania:

The ad is one of a kind and was paid for by Elizabeth Forward High School, which held a design competition for students and chose four winning boards. JT DeMarco, a junior, created the Grumpy Cat design with some great concepting and a poor grasp of copyright law. 

Grumpy Cat, AKA Tardar Sauce, is a bona-fide internet celebrity with a permanent frown "due to feline dwarfism and an under bite". No word yet as to whether the school has been asked to take the board down.

"Overly Attached Girlfriend" uses internet fame for good

Earlier this year, a young woman who had made a rather bizarre and intense Justin Bieber fan video for an online contest found herself the latest victim of accidental internet fame.

According to Know Your Meme, it started when a Reddit user reposted the fan video as “Overly Attached Girlfriend,” which went viral along with the original upload. Within a day, a screencap from the video (above) became a popular image for captioning and sharing. The meme continued to grow, quickly, generating a parody Twitter account and a Tumblr.

Often, this kind of "fame" ends up embarrassing the original subject, who becomes a target of anonymous bullying in the form of parody. But not this time.

When 20-year-old Laina Walker was "outed" as the person who created the video, she took the opportunity to promote herself, on Twitter and YouTube, as the "real" Overly Attached Girlfriend. Sge now has 126,630 followers on Twitter and 273,245 subscribers on YouTube.

But this kind of fame is fleeting. Online memes are like grass fires: they start unexpectedly, spread rapidly, and soon burn out. Ms. Walker first tried posting new videos in the same style as her original one, but they were pretty contrived.

Now, however, the woman behind the meme has decided to do something worthwhile with her accidental internet celebrity: she's using it to raise funds and support for a good cause:



Her idea to take "dares" online, and fulfill them when a fundraising goal is reached is quite smart. It's high-engagement, and is very sharable. I think Ms. Walker has found her calling.

Her first beneficiary, Surf Camp, is a charity that brings students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families on a two-day field trip. The (under-construction) site explains, "In addition to ocean surfing, the goal of the camp curriculum is to improve social social skills and sensory motor development important for student achievement and active engagement in learning." Fundraising is being done through rally.org. So far, $15,877 has been raised towards their $50,000
goal.

Interesting how someone who could have been a target for bullies is trying to help people who are so often targeted for no other reason than their natural diferences. Good for her.

How Pussy Riot became the cause of 2012

Back in January, I blogged on Osocio about a Russian punk band called "Pussy Riot" that made headlines for its guerrilla gigs against Vladimir Putin.

Here they were in Red Square with "Putin Pissed":



At the time, they seemed like another expression of post-Soviet feminine frustration with the continued male dominance of — and corruption in — politics. Like Femen, but with balaclavas instead of bare breasts.

Also in common with their Ukranian sisters-in-protest, they continued to push boundaries. After a a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral, in which they sang to the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against Vladimir Putin, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested for "Hooliganism" and "Inciting Religious Hatred". In August, they were sentenced to two years' hard labour. (Two other band members fled Russia.)

And then the whole world took notice.

Amnesty International  proclaimed the group Prisoners of Conscience, and set their global membership to work demanding their release. Paul McCartney, Sting and Madonna joined the cause. (Well, they did sort of ask for her help.) Alicia Silverstone demanded they have access to vegan meals. Peaches held a concert for them in Canada.

Not to be outdone, Femen sent prominent member Inna Shevchenko out to chainsaw down a wooden memorial cross in Kiev... topless, of course. (She had to flee to France afterwards, to avoid arrest and/or angry religious mobs.)

Free riot from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.

With all this attention, mainstream reporters and news editors suddenly found themselves writing "Pussy" over and over again, sometimes with amusing results.

Pussy Riot even made a conceptual appearance at New York Fashion Week (see photo at top), their colourful balaclavas co-opted in the Gerlan Jeans runway show. Quite the strange journey for a anarcho-feminist collective.

There are many people in the world who suffer for free speech. Why are Pussy Riot the ones everyone got behind?

Never underestimate the power of branding. The name gets your attention, especially in a year in which frank discussion of women's sexual parts has become mainstream political conversation. "Free Pussy Riot" is one hell of a slogan, and lends itself easily to memes.

And then there are those balaclavas. 

They're anonymous and frightening, combined with the hardcore music, but also use warm colours and soft fabrics. It's a look easily copied by supporters, and make a memorable symbol of protest.

And the music. Fast, guitar-driven punk with one political barb after another. The band kept releasing new material, even with three in prison:



Sex, balaclavas and rock 'n' roll... it's a powerful combination for a fringe movement in need of popular support. And it's working.

Just last week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for the three members of the punk band Pussy Riot to be freed, saying "In my view, a suspended sentence would be sufficient, taking into account the time they have already spent in custody." They have an appeal scheduled for October first.

Branding your message matters. Always.

Train etiquette campaign parodies are "super simple stuff"

Last week, Eric shared an image that was my first exposure to the Queensland Rail Meme:

Here's the backstory: Australia's Queensland Rail, a regional interurban rail network, launched a train etiquette campaign way back in 2011. It used the style of children's first readers to show how elementary basic courtesy really is.

You get the idea. Everyone does. Which makes the campaign ripe for parody.


Buzzfeed has collected some of the "best" of the fake posters:

Despite the silliness, this is actually good news for the client. Their brand is out there, and the courtesy conversation is viral. Good on you, Queensland Rail.

Today is "#NoPantyDay" (good luck with that!)

This meme has been going around social media this week. Looks like wishful thinking to me, even if we are in the middle of a heatwave.