Teachers' union welcomes in the school year with quiz on labour rights

Clearly, no Art Directors were inconvenienced in the making of this ad. But the quiz-style long copy print ad is appearing as a full page in several Ontario dailies.

The Ontario elementary teachers (my wife is one of them) are locked in a battle of wills against the cash-strapped Ontario government. Premier Dalton McGuinty's minority government recently introduced Bill 115 to force a new contract — including wage freezes, clawbacks on bankable sick leave, and removing right to strike — on the teachers without going through the collective bargaining process. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it's unconstitutional, however.

I am conjugally biased on this issue, which has lead to a number of internet arguments with friends, family, and journalists. One rather disrespectful comment by the Education Minister made me so angry, I launched a petition demanding she resign or apologize for misrepresenting teachers as lazy and greedy. It has attracted almost 6,000 signatures.

I've never been a member of any union, but I find myself taking sides in this case. So,  Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, if you'd like me to help you develop a more effective PR and social media strategy to get your story across, call me.

In defence of nothing

The National Post reports that Mississauga City Councillor Carolyn Parrish has declared war on the "overuse" of colour and whitespace in city print ads, challenging Mississauga's communication people to reduce their ad budget by 30%.

Now, I'm all for being efficient, and I appreciate the Councillor's push to get her city's communications into the modern digital world. But the insistence that municipal ads are "too large, utilize too much blank space or have too many colorized features" is something I have heard many times before. And it's a mistake.

Smart use of whitespace (or "negative space") is an important technique used to get print ads noticed, especially when they're floating in a text-heavy page of editorial.




For example, this sentence, with no other art direction to help it, stands out.




Unfortunately, though, many clients look at their media spending, and dislike the idea of paying for several column inches of nothing. And you end up with a mess like this:



Instead of a show-stopper, like this:



Restrained use of colour highlights can also be effective:



So, if there's one thing I'd like to say to people like Councillor Parrish, it's give your print ads a break. They need all the help they can get.