Shell's embarrassing, sexist, crowdsourced natural gas ad

I can't believe I almost missed Shell's crowdsourced natural gas campaign. According to i100, the fossil fuels company offered $50,000 for young filmmakers to create "viral videos" to make it look more green.

One of the winners was this ridiculously-twee attempt to pander to Millennials:

It's pretty standard suff. But there's also this:

The ham-fisted parody of French New Wave films is trying to be cute, but assigning renewable energy to a helpless woman in need of a man (played by natural gas) is not exactly helping sexist stereotypes in advertising.

Worse, though: It's awful.

Examining regional beauty standards through Photoshop

Buzzfeed's content has been going downhill lately, but this post is a refreshing exception. It tells the story of Esther Honig, a self-described "human interest reporter" based in Kansas City.

Ms. Honig sent her raw portrait (above) to 40 people in 25 different countries with one simple request: "make me beautiful."

Here a few results:

Germany (via Buzzfeed)

Morocco (Via Buzzfeed)

India (1 of 3, via Buzzfeed)

USA (1 of 2, via Buzzfeed)

It's interesting to note that while several PSers lightened her skin, few darkened it much. The participants were not all professionals. Hired through Fiverr, an international freelancing website, they were each paid a maximum of $30 for the work. Some of the results are quite weird. And there is no indication whether the "artist" was male or female.

What are we to take from this? Ms. Honig leaves it up to the viewer, simply stating that "each one is a reflection of both the personal and cultural concepts of beauty that pertain to their creator." But cycling through all the images at her site is both fascinating and disturbing.

Check out the whole project, "Before and After," here.

Sexist Schick for Men campaign ends up crowdsourcing feminism

In May, Smart Company reported on a crowdsourced campaign gone awry, for Schick Australia.

It started with a two-part YouTube video, originally produced by Schick Singapore in March



The first ad clicks through to a second video in which the topless model is strategically blocked from every angle, Austin Powers style:



Cheesy and sexist enough, but the Schick for Men Australia Facebook Page also ran a contest for dudes to upload their faces on a model's chest::

The Schick models are then lined up like a menu:

And then you end up in the gallery, emblazoned on the shirt of a now-mostly-headless model:

A feminist group known as Collective Shout hijacked the campaign by creating and posting images in which the t-shirts featured slogans and flames against the campaign:

They're still on the Schick page, and have been preserved as well at Collective Shout.

They're better in context, though, especially with the guy on the top left.

Sure, it's a small protest. But it's another example of how organized, online activism can make a mess of the best laid marketing plans.

Reimagining #Sochi sponsor ads with pride

Scottish ad industry blog The Drum is partnering with Chip Shop Awards and One Minute Briefs to challenge creatives to "show how Winter Olympics sponsors could promote the LGBT message in Russia."

One Minute Briefs is featuring hundreds of entries on Twitter. Some are mere sketches, and others are rife with gay stereotypes and crude sexual imagery. The ones I'm featuring here are among my favourites out of the 50 shortlisted by The Drum.

You can vote for your picks, today, right here.

Related posts:

Google goes gay for #Sochi
After Barilla, pro-gay pasta parody ads are cropping up all over the place

Sibling rivalry: Identical twin ADs square off on beer label design contest

Duelling Wantucks at the National Art Gallery

Okay, so this is fun.

My good friends Tim Wantuck and Daryn Wantuck are identical twins. And they don't just have looks in common — they're both accomplished designers, illustrators and art directors at Ottawa agency The Bytown Group. And if you know them, you're already aware that they never saw a logo or packaging design contest they could walk away from.

So, predictably, when Kichesippi Beer Co. decided to crowdsource a label for its newest brew, Heller High Water, both Daryn and Tim got in on the action. And what do you know? They both made the Top 4:

Daryn's is on the right.

Tim's is on the right.

Sibling rivalry? Oh, yeah! If you'd like to weigh in on either twin's design, or even vote for one of the other, non monozygotic-clone-designed, ones, go to the Kichesippi Beer page and "Like" your favourite(s) to vote them up.

The Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door

PETA is finally getting around to addressing the most important issue yet in animal welfare: Who are the sexiest non-celebrity vegetarians willing to objectify themselves for the cause?

Will it be Stephanie of Roseville, CA, who (in addition to the fact that she is naked) would like you to know, "There is an unfiltered kindness and love in an animals eyes that you just can't find in a persons" (sic)?

Or Erika of Greenville, SC, who riddles us this: "If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner?"

There are men in the running as well.

Zachary of Brooklyn, NY, who seems to have a hard time keeping his underpants up, says "No animals were harmed in the making of this body."

Malik of Pembroke Pines, FL, says "Animals have a place in my heart, not in my stomach".

You only have two weeks left to vote for the two winners, who will then be sent to Hawaii together to  prove how much sex vegetarians can have. (Presuming they're both straight. But I don't want to promote any stereotypes here...)

See all the contestants at the PETA site.

Interestingly, the women outnumber the men by more than 5:1.

Creating an international symbol for homebirth

Emma Kwasnica, the now-famous breastfeeding activist, shared this interesting link on Facebook.

Apparently, the Peaceful Parenting blog has been trying to crowdsource a symbol that homebirth advocates and organizations could use as an identifier. It's a good idea, since causes need symbols just like nations need flags.

A good bar has been set, both in similar cause and public acceptance, by the "you're welcome to breastfeed here" signs that are now common.

Here is an explanation of how they are doing it:

"The finalists for the International Homebirth Symbol have been chosen by a panel of birth and babies professionals and mothers alike (see panel members here). They are presented here for your vote. Graphics are drafts and may be brushed up or altered slightly for finalization. Color/shade will also be voted on publicly once the symbol is selected. All are presented here in the same shade for voting purposes only. Artists will remain anonymous to the panel and public until voting is complete. The top symbols will go on to Round Three where they will be voted on by a panel of graphic design artists."

I like that they are putting these forward as abstract symbols, without consideration for colour or perfection of execution.

In situations like these, I try to ask myself WWPAD? (What Would Paul Arthur Do?). The sadly-missed godfather of pictograms, signage and wayfinding could have really helped these folks. I briefly knew the man,  who famously decided it was a good idea to use symbols instead of "men" and "women" at Expo 67 — something we cannot today imagine a world without. (He was my S-I-L Laura's stepfather.) But since he died when I was just starting to enter the fullness of my creative career, I never got to work with him professionally. Instead, I am inspired by skimming his books and reading others' memories, like this frank critique of proposed icons for the "World Wide Web."

I am no designer — and certainly no Paul. But I would like to bring this interesting exercise to the attention of my fellow professionals.

Here are the entries:

A: I get it, but it has an unfortunate resemblance to the internet shock meme goatse man.
(If you don't know what that is, you're lucky. Here's the Wikipedia link.

B: Sweet, but says "healthy pregnancy" more than "birth" to me.

C: The addition of the partner is nice, but not inclusive.
Single women and gay women also homebirth, an the supporter is not always a partner.

D: Not bad. I like the "yoga" look and the simplicity.
I only wish the house icon were simpler.

E: Too abstract for me. Pretty sure this would fail comprehension tests.

F: A literal attempt to say "home birth". Kind of confusing.
I also associate realistic foetus silhouettes with anti-abortion causes.

G: A nice thought, but overly simplistic.
The heart as mother and child has been done before, and does not necessarily
communicate "birth".

H: As with others, this shows motherhood but could be post-partum at home.

I: Getting closer, but the shapes might not be 100% clear.

J: The "woman birthing" icon is clearer, but looks a little nuclear.
The lines in the house are superfluous.

K: The human idea is communicated well, and the style could easily be simplified.
Not sure if the window is intuitive enough (would need to be tested) but it's nice to
see something other than the obvious house icon.

L: Overly abstract, like G, but with more of a "birthing" feel.

M: An attempt to make pictograms out of "H" and "B".
Besides being really abstract, it is language exclusive,
and not international.

N: Like the breastfeeding symbol, but with umbilical cord and house added.
Might lead to confusion with the BF symbol, and cord might be too subtle
to communicate the moment of birth.

O: This says "loving nuclear family" to me, not birth.
Also has the same heteronormative issue as C.

P: A "primitive" (petroglyph-inspired) symbol that says "motherhood"
more than anything. No implication of "birth" and "home".

And no, folks, I am not being too mean. I am actually being very gentle, in Creative Director trms, because I know that these are earnest efforts by people from a variety of backgrounds.

But that's the whole problem here. Functional design, such as this, should never be croudsourced or contested. It should be developed by specialized professionals, and tested extensively in controlled market research, to make sure it is understood.

The opinions I gave above are just first reactions — the kind of advice I would give to designers at an initial creative review, to help them refine their ideas and avoid wasting time on non-starters (like M).

Since Peaceful Parenting have already committed to this selection process, they can't stop now. But if they want to stand any chance of having the result widely adopted as a recognized symbol of homebirth, I hope they will turn the results over to professionals for final design, testing, and change if needed.

Trust me, it's the right thing to do. Because when symbolic logos fail, they fail hard.

Obama creating jobs by putting creatives out of work?

Adland brought to my attention a truly ironic move by US President Obama's 2012 re-election team: unpaid crowdsourcing for a new campaign promoting job growth.

From the Art Works site:

"Obama for America is seeking poster submissions from artists across the country illustrating why we support President Obama's plan to create jobs now, and why we'll re-elect him to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years.


Your poster can address the broader themes of the President's plan or pinpoint a specific aspect, from supporting small businesses to rebuilding roads and bridges for the 21st century. For more on the desired specs, read the creative brief.


We'll pick the 12 best submissions received by November 4th, 2011, then put the finalists to a vote. Three winners will receive a framed print of their poster signed by President Obama and a limited edition of their poster will be sold in the campaign store."

Here are a couple of gems from the "Creative Brief":

"You hereby represent and warrant that all equipment, materials, and facilities used to produce your poster are owned by you and were not provided by a corporation, labor union, foreign national, or federal contractor. Any disposable materials purchased specifically to produce the poster will be treated as in-kind contributions to Obama for America."

I'm sure this one is being violated repeatedly by people who cannot afford to have their own equipment outside of the office.

"All submissions will become property of Obama for America."

And for all that, here's what you win:

"Three (3) winners will receive the following prize: A framed copy of the Poster (defined below) signed by Barack Obama and all or part of the winner's Poster will be used and displayed on Sponsor's website and/or in other Sponsor advertising or promotional material (to be determined in Sponsor's sole discretion) associated with Sponsor's political advertising efforts (approximate retail value: $195)."

When a country's economy goes bad, the marketing industry — including ad and design creatives — is the canary in the coal mine. Companies in trouble tend to cut marketing budgets early on as they struggle to reduce the bleeding. Agencies lose revenue, then lay people off (or even shut their doors).

There is nothing creative professionals hate more than a paid work opportunity being given over to free crowdsourcing. The Obama campaign is well-funded, too — Adland says they have "$60 million cash on hand in campaign funding".

Creating jobs means supporting professionals who depend on a certain trade for a living. But this contest asks ll entrants to give away their work for free even if they don't get any credit for it. By undermining the value of concept and design, the Obama campaign has thumbed its nose at one of the USA's most celebrated industries.

And when you piss off creatives, you can get some very creative responses.

Homeland Security's Homemade PSAs

When I saw that the Department of Homeland Security had announced the winners in its "Stop. Think. Connect." cybersecurity video challenge, I thought it might be interesting. I was disappointed.

This first is the best of the lot, just because it doesn't try too hard and gives usable information. I give it a B



The next, well... seems a little off. Showing like a news report, it seems less about protecting yourself from cyberbullying than it is a warning not to bully others. C



And then there's this. I give it a "WT" F...



Okay, okay. They're just kids. But if they're going to be in advertising, they might as well get used to jerky ad bloggers.

But in all seriousness, this exposes one of the challenges of youth marketing. Some like to think that the best way to reach high school kids is to have kids design their own PSAs. The problem is, they often end up mimicking what they think a "grown up" ad should look like, but don't have the skills or experience to make it hold together.

Like any focus group, you can't just ask them straight out what they want the ad to be. Instead, you have to pull out of them what they need the ad to do, and how they need to be talked to to get through. Then get the professionals involved.

Going gonzo on crowdsourcing, and channeling Seinfeld

You know, sometimes you just have to learn by doing.

Julia, my wife, told me she wanted to enter a contest to win a $25,000 IKEA kitchen makeover sponsored by Chatelaine Magazine. I said "sure!" because I hate our kitchen too. Why?

Let me take you back to the 1990s:





Seinfeld's kitchen was where most of the "show about nothing" took place. So it was absolutely hilarious when he let a carpenter completely wreck it.

It's even funnier to us, because it's exactly what a previous owner of our house did to what would one day be our kitchen.

"It's very obtrusive..."

So here's my entry to the contest:

Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld, when he had his kitchen remodelled? When the carpenter put an island with awkward upper cupboards in the middle of the kitchen that totally ruined it as a social space?

Well, that's our kitchen. Our house is old, built in 1927, and full of “character”. The original layout was a sunny breakfast nook separated from a small kitchen. Over the decades, it has had numerous renovations, and the last one really screwed it up.

The centre island (more of a peninsula) cramps the cooking area. The shelves above block sunlight and eye contact. It's so tight to the dishwasher that nobody can pass through when loading or unloading. Not to mention the cheap cabinetry that keeps peeling white laminate.

The access to our back door is equally screwed up. Between fridge and the sink, we have to shimmy to get groceries in. (Note the built-in stove we bought in hopes of rebuilding “The Island of Misfit Interior Designers”.)

And the aesthetics! Done in the early-90s (so missing the Seinfeld irony is all the more puzzling) the concept is white and hunter green. We quickly covered the green vinyl floor...

We know this kitchen has challenges. It's small. The entire south wall is windows. (Its best feature!) The rest of the wallspace it broken up by windows entranceways.

Can you help? We love our little old house, but the kitchen is just one big mess of bad decisions and wasted potential.

Our chances of winning are slim at best, but there's nothing like participating in a social media contest to  get you inside the heads of consumers.

Crowdsource goes postpunk

"Iggy Pop is making a new band - and plans to fill it with Kiwis he meets online. He is then going to re-record one of his biggest tracks 'The Passenger', live, online, with the magic of Orcon broadband."

That was the pitch made by New Zealand's Orcon Broadband last October in what I think is one of the coolest crowdsourcing ideas ever, because:

• Iggy Pop is a rock god
• It's such a great demonstration of the product.

Basically, New Zealanders were invited to post audition videos of themselves on Orcon's FB page, playing along to Iggy's 1977 classic "The Passenger" with any instrument they liked. Iggy then picked his top 8, and Orcon set up a live online jam between The Ig, who was in Miami, and each new member of his NZ backup band in their homes.

Here's a particularly peppy audition from up-and-coming "Japanese punk jazz" flautist Miho Wada:



Here's the teaser of Iggy connecting with the talent:



Here's the session:



And here's the final:



Orcon looks cool. Iggy is cool, plus he gets to connect (literally!) with a new generation of fans. And this campaign was just awarded a Grand Prix Award for direct marketing at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France.

Sellout you say? This is the man whose sond about kicking Heroin is used for a cruise line ad. Who shilled for an insurance company.

This, at least, was the real Iggy Pop.



Plus, the man needs his retirement fund.

Indulge your inner Mad Man (at the bar)

Molson-Coors Canada recently made their ads interactive with "Brew Your Own Beer Ad"

It's a contest based on this current Rickard's "Pint of Delicious" TV campaign:



In the online version, you get to script the comments of the three barflies (or be like a real Copywriter and "borrow" an idea...)



The guys do your bidding, with weirdly animated faces and electronic voices. You can make them say anything you want, but profanity gets a "look" and some snark from the barkeep.



(Hey, pal! It was in the name of advertising science!)

The content is also sharable, but in an effort to avoid an epic viral brand hijack like GM had with its Chevy Tahoe make-your-own ad application, your link is only sent to a friend after some sort of comment moderation. (Even some clean, but inappropriate versions I attempted failed to get through.)

This lack of shareability is generally a detriment to a viral campaign, but given the negative brand associations possible to inflict on the alcoholic beverages category, it's probably wise.

Plus, it's only a matter of time until someone finds a way to share their sick ideas.