Using tired "beer goggles" clichés to sell taxi service

Via Daily Mail 

You know, we advertising practitioners really should adopt something like the popular conception of the Hippocratic Oath, starting with the words, "First, do no harm."

We're here to represent our clients, but we are also contributing to the language and imagery of popular culture and media. When we create something that gets attention by promoting stereotypes — or worse — unearned scorn towards our fellow humans, then we are being irresponsible.

Via Daily Mail 

These bar ads, by West Quay Cars taxi company of Southampton, UK, are an example of this. They use the hackneyed old idea of beer goggles to imply that this large woman and tacky man are unworthy of love.

Note the difference. The man is a cartoonish stereotype of a disco-era lounge lizard. The woman, on the other hand, is mostly implied to be unattractive because she is fat.

The Southampton University Feminist Society wrote an open letter to the advertiser, stating:

This advert is a form of body policing and an example of fatphobia. It is making fun of someone because of the way they look. This objectifying, judging lens is something we are well aware of in the media, for both genders, but especially for women. Therefore seeing the female version of this advert by itself, as it first was, some members branded it sexist. It was only later that the male version was posted. Members immediately voiced their dislike of the male version also, noting again that it was an unacceptable form of body-policing.

The company issued the standard non-apology:

"We apologise for any offence that may have been caused by either of the posters,” manager Lee Haynes told The Tab. 

"We recognised that the campaign may be controversial, but in our opinion, our obligation to try to reduce the amount of lives devastated by drink or drug drivers ever year was overriding. 

"We refute the claim that either our advertising or West Quay cars as a company is sexist or discriminatory in anyway.

They mentioned that 16 of their staff of 22 are women.

I'm sure that some of their best friends are also Black.

Related: The goggles do nothing (Osocio.org)

Every day must be 4/20 at JWT Delhi #FdAdFriday

We were looking at these in a creative meeting today, and a designer colleague said "they look like Dali". I thought she said "they look like Delhi" and I was impressed that she was so well-versed in some of the odder movements in international ad markets.

These are supposedly anti-drinking-and-driving ads. To me, they look more like anti-doing-two-bags-of-grass-seventy-five-pellets-of-mescaline-five-sheets-of-high-powered-blotter-acid-a salt-shaker-half-full-of-cocaine-and-a-whole-galaxy-of-multi-coloured-uppers-downers-screamers-laughers-and-also-a-quart-of-tequila-a-quart-of-rum-a-case-of-Ballantine-ale-a-pint-of-raw-ether-and-two-dozen-amyls-and-driving ads.

Via Ads of the World

It's national drunk driving night in the USA

According to Gawker, tonight (Thanksgiving Eve) is the night most Americans drink and drive. There's not much point in me saying "don't do it". Those of you without access to decent cab or public transit services will have to face the prospect of having to find, or be, a designated driver. Why would anyone want to do that?

1) You can still perform when you finally get a chance to hook up with that high school regret.
2) Tomorrow, you can be thankful that you don't have to stuff a turkey while blindingly hung over.
3) You will survive the night.
4) That old lady down the road who walks her dog in the dark will survive the night.
5) The loved ones you spend the next few days with will not be your new besties in jail.

Be safe.

"Friends don't let Jackasses drink and drive"

Ryan Dunn, of Jackass fame, and actor Zac Hartwell, died the other night when Dunn's Porche went off the road and crashed into a forest. They had just left a bar, after 2 a.m., where witnesses report Dunn had consumed "3 Miller Lites and 3 girly shots". The bar manager says Dunn "didn't seem drunk".

But he is dead. And so is his passenger. How do you feel about that?

Roger Ebert expressed a range of feelings in two consecutive Tweets yesterday:

And that brought on a shitstorm of controversy...

The comment really hit a nerve, and it's a raw one. Death by misadventure is like suicide, in that it provokes a mixed bag of feelings including grief and anger.  Add to that the fact that Dunn took someone else along for the ride, and it gets even more complicated.

We won't know how intoxicated Dunn really was until after his autopsy. He was also known for his love of driving fast. If he had lived, and his passenger had died, he'd be facing some pretty serious charges now.

Via NBC

Yes, Ebert was harsh. This was a harsh death — for two people — and it was probably preventable. But will the moral of the story be lost on Jackass fans?

Probably.

Getting pissed with drunk drivers

This ambient campaign from Publicis Milan is one of those that is probably more effective as a case study than as an actual installation.

McFarland Beer placed heat-sensitive ads inside urinals at a Milan nightclub. Whenever a guy let out a long-enough leak, it revealed a corporate socia responsibility message:

I'm not sure they really needed to focus so much on the stream... or the guy bending down to read it close up. Ew!

Tip (and video) via Ads of The World.

The real question is, did Han do shots first?

This little gem has been jumping around hyperspace for quite some time, but it was new to me.



It's a 1979 anti-DWI PSA for the US Dept of Transportation, done in collaboration with Lusasfilm:



Featuring the freaky aliens from the Cantina scene in Mos Eisley, it seems to show that even alien space pirates with the death sentence on twelve systems don't let friends drive drunk. Then we get a cheap shot of the Millennium Falcon and the one actual human star of the series, James Earl Jones, telling us,

"When friends drink too much, even in galaxies far far away, friends don't let friends drive drunk."

What's especially amusing about this PSA (in addition to its epic crappiness) is that it comes from a long time ago when the Star Wars brand was still in its experimental stage.

Flush with unexpected success from the first film, Lucas' early attempts to keep people interested until Empire Strikes Back was in theatres were often quite comic.

Let's not forget the monumentally regrettable Star Wars Holiday Special:



In context, using some of the lower-priced assets for social marketing purposes was downright virtuous.

Oh, and there is... another... awkward example of Star Wars social marketing...



Use the Force, folks, and stay safe and healthy this Christmas.

Change the Conversation

According to our client, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 81% of licensed drivers never drive after drinking. Those who do are clearly in the minority. So why are a third of road deaths alcohol related?

The problem is that we Canadians tend to be very tolerant of others, and shy about confrontation. Many of us are proud of doing the right thing for ourselves, but we pause before either letting other people know what we believe or speaking out against wrongs.

That's the challenge we faced when TIRF asked us to partner with them on the Change The Conversation campaign. Responsible drinkers are in the vast majority, and it is time that we do something about the hard core of irresponsible people.

Confrontational, and even aggressive in their look and message, these posters are here to get attention and invite people to join the conversation at the campaign site, changetheconversation.ca, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed (@changetheconvo) and an eventual YouTube Channel.

The campaign messaging and look are by Acart Communications, while and our longtime clients the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) led the partnership with Arrive Alive and The Student Life Education Company, for web implementation and PR. Brewers Association of Canada sponsored it.

What do you think? Would this campaign make you think twice before getting in a car with someone who  had been drinking irresponsibly, or letting someone drive home from your place after a few?

The rest of the campaign brings further challenges: Planning ahead not to drink and drive, not letting young drivers get distracted driving drunk friends around, and the career limitations of conviction.