Swimsuit models attempt to emulate ordinary people for laughs

"Hey, you know what would be really funny?" asked the Creative at Grey, NY, to nobody in particular. "If we took these sexy supermodels and juxtaposed them with 'trashy' versions of themselves in the SI swimsuit issue!"

And thus a DIRECTV campaign was born:

What could be funnier than fantastically rich supermodels pretending to be less glamorous people?

A lot, probably. But it's the last juxtaposition that really bothers me. The intention is to show that DIRECTV is for the beautiful, sexy people, while cable is for... you know... others. Like working class housewives, or cat ladies, or or service industry workers.

That's not out-of-touch at all. Not even the slight bit classist. Nope.

Thanks to Adland for the tip (and all images).

Anti-gay group steals men's wedding portrait for homophobic mailer

Copyright Kristina Hill

The photo above celebrates the 2010 engagement of Tom Privitere and Brian Edward. Taken (and legally owned) by Brooklyn photographer Kristina Hill, it is an intimate portrait of two men intending to formalize their life together (NY State legalized same-sex marriage the next year, but they had already wed in Connecticut).

Below is a direct mail sent to constituents of Colorado State Senator Jean White (R), a proponent of same-sex "civil unions," by Public Advocate of the United States.

From their horrible web site:

Public Advocate offers strong and vocal opposition to :

• Same sex marriage and the furtherance of so-called "Gay Rights";

• The National Endowment of the Arts or taxpayer supported art and the federal funding and endorsement of pornography and obscenity as legitimate forms of art from any agency;

• The mainstream media's promotion and glorification of drug abuse, teenage sex, gangs, atheism, homosexuality and other immoral behavior and beliefs;

• The passage of hate crimes and thought control legislation that creates inequality in our state and federal legal systems and singles out Christians or moral thinking people for persecution, fines, and harrassment by the government at any level;

• "Pro-choice" or abortion strengthening legislation that upholds or expands the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973;

• The creation of special classes of Americans at the expense of the traditional American family.

(Bafflingly, they also claim to support "Equality under the law, regardless of one's sexual orientation")

You'll note that they have no statement on intellectual property laws. But Tom, Brian and Kristina do. They're suing PAUS (what a lovely acronym) in U.S. District Court, seeking damages, costs and attorney fees for the allegedly unauthorized use of the copyrighted photo.

When contacted by NBC News, PAUS President Eugene Delgaudio said  he was looking into it but did not elaborate.

The complaintants' attorney, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Christine Sun, told NBC:

“The use of Tom and Brian’s likenesses, or of Kristina’s copyrighted photo, was wholly gratuitous. Public Advocate could have just paid for a stock photo of a gay couple kissing but instead Public Advocate decided to take this very personal photo of this happy moment and use it to attack gay people.  … the doctrine of fair use is not intended to allow people to use copyrighted work just because it’s cheaper than paying for something.”  

A fair warning for all marketing people, homophobic or not.

Thou shalt not steal gay porn to protest equal marriage

This digital mailer, paid for by the "Committee to Save the Erie County Republican Party," is an attack on a Republican New York state senator who was the decisive vote in the state's gay marriage legislation.

The rest of it reads, "Sometimes they're political whore$. Make sure your Son says, 'Thank you, Mark Grisanti'." Buzzfeed IDs the "committee" as Matthew Ricchiazzi, a Cornell University graduate who ran a failed campaign for Buffalo mayor.

I was more curious about where the committee got the image. It dosen't look like stock photography, and it is unlikely they did a photo shoot. So I put our a query on my social media networks.

Liam Quin, a follower on Google+ , cropped the image and did a Google similar-image search. Bingo.

The image is from a gay porn movie called Zeb Fucks Wayne (warning: porn link). The photo is from the still on that site. ("I have not actually watched the movie, I'm afraid," Liam adds.)

Stealing is mentioned in the 10 commandments. Same-sex marriage is not. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Creative team threatens to "get gay married" if they can't land a job

What a clever, but terrible, idea.

Creative self-promo pieces are usually pretty kooky. In this one, according to Adland, Charli Hoffmann and Alex Otis threaten NYC agencies that they will have to get married to keep Charli in the country unless the Hoffmann can renew her work visa before October 7 by landing a job.

It's funny, if two straight girls making light of the struggle to get same sex marriage recognized in NY doesn't irk you. Your call.

The joke works in the ad world because creative teams do become like married people after a time, no matter what their sex or orientation. But putting intent to defraud U.S. Immigration on a Facebook Page?

Not a smart move for a foreign worker these days. Even in jest.

Good luck with that.