How advertising innovations gave the world President Trump

It's been less than a year since we all woke up, rubbed our eyes, and realized that the United States of America had elected a blowhard reality show host as President.

It seemed impossible. But that was just the beginning of one unbelievable thing after another.

The suspicions and accusations of Russian interference in American political discourse felt like sour grapes to some, but now we're seeing proof. Last week, the US House Intelligence Committee published a selection of Facebook and Instagram posts and ads that came from accounts now known to be Russian-controlled.

Most of them speak the language of memes, at least what a "meme" is considered to be in the twentyteens: a captioned image that provokes a strong positive or negative reaction. Many, like the infamous Jesus-boxing-Hillary image above, also had a call-to-action that would help them spread virally.

The memes and other posts are highly-targeted, and many are aimed squarely at the fault lines of American society, both pro- and anti-Trump:

What's the point? Analysts call it Putin's attempt to destabilize the west, so that allied countries are less able to act against Russian interests. In the case of the USA, the goal was obviously to promote the election of a singularly unqualified presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who may or may not already by compromised by Russian intelligence.

At the same time, look at what's happening to the two major parties in the US: The Democrats lost the election partially due to infighting, which was additionally fuelled by pro-Sanders Russian ads, and Republican infighting allowed Trump to emerge triumphant.

As a social (and social media) marketer, I can't help but look at the strategy behind this with a mix of wonder and disgust. Segmentation, and telling people what they want to hear, are old advertising strategy. However, social media has provided a more targeted and intimate advertiser-consumer experience than ever before. Advertisers, or rather advertising platforms (Facebook, Google, etc.) also know more about consumers on an individual level than any direct marketer in the past could imagine. Apply some behavioural psychology to this, and maybe you can disrupt democracy itself.

How did we, the world, allow ourselves to become so easy to manipulate? Blame advertising. The desire of marketers to get inside consumers' heads is relentless, and it's really working. Just a couple of days ago, my partner was looking at soufflé dishes online. While she was still doing that (as we have a shared family account for Gmail) ads for soufflé dishes started appearing on my Facebook feed. This is simple behavioural retargeting, but it works.

In the mysterious inner workings of Facebook, all of my online relationships and posts are analyzed to better serve me content and ads that will be of interest to me. That was the plan, anyway. In reality, our social media networks become expanding bubbles of confirmation bias that can actually transform and/or stratify our worldview.

For a consumer advertiser, the goal is to build brand loyalty. Today, a brand can take advantage of the information Facebook and Google collect to attach their brand to "the big issues" and develop loyalty that is based on lifestyle, community, and even politics.

For the propagandists behind the 2016 US election disruptions, however, the goal was to inflame fierce loyalty within one's political sphere, while sowing FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about their opponents. The result is an influence on voting behaviour and the breakdown of the American political system.

When all is revealed by the House Intelligence Committee, 2016-17 will become a case study in mass persuasion, creating a belief system that turned voters away from mainstream politicians and into the arms of a complete disaster of a President. People didn't need to be convinced Trump was great, only that existing system was broken and Trump could disrupt it for the benefit of his base.

This operation, by the way, is ongoing, as any review of the replies to a Trump tweet will show. The United States is fractured, and the jagged pieces are drifting further away from each other every day.

Being banned from Facebook and Instagram sends "honest" bra ad viral

Some ads are made to be "banned." This one, from the Australian division of underwear brand Berlei, pushed the bounds of breast portrayal and was subsequently taken down from the brand's Facebook and Instagram pages for being "offensive."

News.com.au's Angela Mollard writes:

Berlei’s ad is not gratuitous. It’s not sleazy or even sexual. Rather, it’s a fistpump-worthy piece of advertising that addresses women’s body concerns head or, rather, breast on. Yes there’s boobs bouncing under a sports bra and women trying to cover their nipples and prod or poke bits of flesh back into an unsatisfactory garment, but that’s life with breasts.

I'd have to agree, although the ad is certainly provocative in a very deliberate way.

As of this moment (10:30 EDT, Saturday September 9, 2017) the ad has almost 225,000 views on YouTube. Expect to see many more as the earned media does its job.

Are people interested in this ad because it's about breasts? Of course! Is that a problem? Perhaps to some prudish American social media moguls. But it seems pretty feminist to me.

If you have any thoughts on the ad, please feel free to comment. I'll be ramping up this blog again over the next few weeks, so expect to see more posts. Let's talk about ethics in advertising!

KFC reminds moms that it's their job to cook. On #MothersDay

The idea is pretty cute: Kentucky Fried Chicken publishes a romance novella starring Colonel Sanders as a mysterious Victorian sailor.

Give Mom her true heart’s desire this Mother’s Day—a family meal and a romance novel featuring Colonel Sanders. pic.twitter.com/WHJNL9kRqn

— KFC (@kfc) May 4, 2017

It's funny stuff by Wieden + Kennedy. But there's a problem here, and it has to do with what "moms" are expected to do when it's not Mother's Day.

Let's hear it directly from the mouth of George Felix, director of advertising for KFC U.S.:

"...this Mother's Day, the bucket of chicken I get for my wife will come with a side of steamy romance novella. Dinner is taken care of and she'll have the time to escape her busy schedule."

Dinner's taken care of? That's great! Mom gets the night off from cooking for her family. Because that's what moms are expected to do, right?

I get that advertising isn't supposed to push social progress, but rather sell stuff. And KFC has been selling fried chicken as a "break for mom" since the beginning.



You get the idea.

Nonetheless, the dusty old ideas about family division of labour seem to work for the KFC brand, who claim a 40% jump in sales on Mother's Day.

Moral of the story? More men and children need to learn how to cook.

David Duke: From KKK to intellectual property theft

You've probably heard the news that David Duke, former "Grand Wizard" of the racist KKK, is running for United States Senate. He's promising to "defend the rights of European Americans."

One of the many meme-ish campaign posters he's sharing on social media is this one, which Lisa Wade of Sociological Images pointed out looks rather... ummm...

David Duke is running for senate. The campaign poster on the left is his. #DavidDuke #AmericaFirst #shudder pic.twitter.com/XjGPViDut0

— Lisa Wade, PhD (@lisawade) July 23, 2016

Aside from that, the photo appears to have been stolen from the portfolio of Dutch model Romy van de Laar. Signed to Elite Model Management, Ms. van de Laar was photographed in this shot in 2012 or before, as far as I can tell from the many fashion blogs (and creepy tumblrs) the shot appears in. Now 20, she must have been 15 or 16 at the time.

Tweeter @joshuacomer also tracked down the model's identity through a reverse image search, and says he has reported the presumably-unauthorized use to Elite.

So to summarize: David Duke, a venomously racist white nationalist, is running for high office in the United States. I suppose stealing a picture of a teenage girl to further his evil agenda isn't the worst thing he's ever done, but it's pretty despicable.

Oh yeah, and Donald Trump seems to like him.

Should a media company refuse one party's political ads?

BuzzFeed certainly has its faults, but on the upside it can occasionally surprise you. Maybe it's the occasional hit of well-written hard news, or a cartoonist giving Disney princesses their viscera back. Or in this case, banning an advertiser for its politics.

That's what just happened:

“Earlier today, BuzzFeed informed the RNC that we would not accept Trump for President ads and that we would be terminating our agreement with them,” [BuzzFeed CEO Jonah] Peretti said. “The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.”

Mr. Peretti went on to compare the ad ban to banning cigarette ads as "hazardous to our health."

But what is this, really? It comes off as principled, but it can also be seen as grandstanding. Banning ads based on the advertiser's politics, sight unseen, could also raise questions about media ethics.

But here's another point of view, expressed by a PR professional named Eliot Harrison in the comments:

If Trump's campaign has shown anything, it's that he hasn't needed advertising. He's getting millions of free advertising through the 100's of articles and stories written about him. THIS article is yet another one that will only serve to embolden his supporters.

Hmm... The man has a point. And since I am only adding to the problem here, perhaps I should stop writing now.

What's your take on this?

The right way to mock #KimDavis' ignorant bigotry

I know, I know. She's an easy target. She's been married four times, with at least one marriage ending because of her infidelity. She has old-fashioned hair. And her husband dresses like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. (OK, I've been guilty of that one too!)

But if you really want to tell Kim Davis off for the hypocrisy of her so-called Biblical literalism, you need to knock off the personal attacks and take that literalism at face value.

That's how Planting Peace did it:

Twitter

I'm not sure they got the parallel right, though. If they are referring to Exodus 21:7 (“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do") it's more about slavery or indentured servitude than what we would call marriage. However, a DailyKos writer describes the same verse as "selling your daughter as a slave to be given to her owner or owner's son for sexual exploitation as a 'wife,' so I could be wrong.

There are lots of horrible definitions of marriage in the Bible, but perhaps this one was chosen for the pure absurdity of it in the modern west. But as far as I know, there is no real consistency of how marriage is defined in the Bible. Parts were written when polygamy was still standard, and others exhort married couples to ensure "the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

Of course, all of this is moot because Kim Davis doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. But it's such a shame that people like her have become the face of American Christianity in the 21st century. I'm not a believer, but I still believe that Jesus the philosopher was all about love and acceptance.

In light of Rachel Dolezal, remember Iron Eyes Cody

Most people middle aged or older remember the "Crying Indian" campaign for Keep America Beautiful:

Most of them, by now, also know that Iron Eyes Cody was no Native American. Born to Sicilian Immigrants in southwestern Louisiana in 1904, Espera Oscar de Corti became an actor in his youth, and found that he could "pass" as a Native American in Hollywood.

de Corti, changing his name to "Cody," claimed to have Cherokee-Cree heritage. He played native roles in dozens of westerns, with John Wayne and other stars of the mid-20th century. His chanting was featured in the Joni Michtell song "Lakota." And, of course, he was the Noble Savage face of Keep America Beautiful. All while sharing more heritage with Christopher Columbus than with the people who got the shit end of the Columbian Exchange.

By all accounts Iron Eyes Cody tried to honour his assumed ancestry. He became an activist for Native American causes, and did lecture tours preaching against the harm of alcohol. He married a Seneca archaeologist, Bertha Parker, and they adopted two adopted two Dakota and/or Maricopa children. He even wrote a book about native sign language.

He also invented a backstory, quoted by Glendale News Press from  a 1951 local newspaper article:

“Iron Eyes learned much of his Indian lore in the days when, as a youth, he toured the country with his father, Thomas Long Plume, in a wild west show. During his travels, he taught himself the sign language of other tribes of Indians” 

The article said that the television star and his wife would appear at a Glendale Historical Society event to tell the story of the “Indian Sign Language in Pictures'' and would demonstrate Indian arts and customs. Plus, the couple would bring along their 3-month-old “papoose” Robin (Robert Timothy). All were to be attired in Indian regalia.

In 1996, three years before his death, Iron Eyes Cody was outed as European by his half-sister, May Abshire, who offered proof of the actor's Sicilian parentage to the Times-Picayune. Cody denied the allegations.

Today, such a shocking exposé, proving that an upstanding member of an ethnic community was really an outsider, would be all over social media. Just like Rachel Dolezal.

I'm having a hard time digging up any initial reactions to Iron Eyes Cody's outing from indigenous people in the United States or Canada. How is he remembered? Did he help make native issues more visible, or did he obnoxiously appropriate an oppressed culture that didn't belong to him?

Please comment below. It's moderated, but I'll approve it ASAP.

This organic tomato sauce may or may not contain severed head

My friend Gord sent me a link from Good that points out a pretty hilarious packaging gaffe. Or is it?

Tropical Traditions, originally a coconut oil importer in the US, has branched out into organic packaged foods. One of them is an Italian pasta sauce line, with labels showing women from Renaissance Italian paintings.

Organic Spicy Tomato & Roasted Garlic, for example, features Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, but without the breasts:

Organic Tomato & Basil uses Raphael's Woman with the Veil:

Organic Tomato and Grilled Eggplant gets one of my favourite portraits, Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo:

OK, the weasel is a little weird for a food label. (Assuming the sauce doesn't have much weasel in it.) 

But let's move on to the final jar, Organic Tomato & Porcini Mushroom:

What is with that woman's face, anyway? She doesn't look too impressed. Perhaps we should have a look at the uncropped painting, which is Caravaggio's... Judith Beheading Holofernes?!?

That's right, it's a decapitation. In the apocryphal Book of Judith, the eponymous heroine is a righteous Hebrew who saves Israel by talking her way into the tent of Assyrian general Holofernes, then hacking off his head after he passes out drunk. Since Christians love them a good grisly death, this scene has been portrayed by several artists over the centuries.

But why choose it for a food label? Especially a food that itself kind of resembles gore?

There is no way the designer was unaware of the painting's context, as she or he would have had to research a public domain version of the whole work from which to crop the label.

In fact, I believe what we are seeing here is a clever little prank. A designer who counted on his or her client to be ignorant of the source material. The Botticelli and Leonardo portraits are well-known enough that they probably sold the idea of using Renaissance Italian paintings of women to give the sauces a note of "old-world authenticity." But a severed head, spouting arterial blood, is probably one of the last things I want to think about when I pour this on my spaghetti.

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).

Similac makes fun of the "Mommy Wars" and it's pretty apalling

So, Similac, a company that stands to benefit from as few women breastfeeding (and breastfeeding women doing it as little as possible) has decided to position itself as the great peacemaker in the angry crossfire of deeply personal judgements of other peoples' parenting choices known as the "Mommy Wars."

I'm a big advocate of breastfeeding, when it works for the mother. But I also believe that women's bodies are theirs to do with as they choose. If they choose not to nurse, nobody gets to police them.

The problem I have with this ad is that by stereotyping the various conflicts between parent trends (including stay-at-home dads), then resolving with a message that none of it really matters, they are negating the very real and important discussions happening about these issues. The nursers feeling forced to cover up, working women with inadequate maternal leave or work flexibility, the challenges faced by lesbian moms? These are presented as no different than the arguments about diapers, baby wearing, and yoga for moms.

By positioning itself as the teller of this tale, Similac very sneakily invalidates lactivist criticisms of its product and marketing. Yeah, I saw what you did there!

But, you know, it's an American commercial. So the warring parties rally around a really bad example of parental neglect and hug it out.

H/T Adfreak

These racists need a lesson in Copywriting

I'd probably be really upset at this billboard if I could figure out what it's trying to say. I get the "diversity means" setup, but the jump from that to "Chasing down the last white person" leaves me scratching my head.

I'll take a wild guess that the advertiser, League of the South, is trying to tell people that the real objective of a diverse society is to eliminate its majority population. But that doesn't seem to make much sense, does it? That's like saying the purpose of putting sugar in your coffee is to remove all traces of java in your cup.

Anyway, I suppose putting two sentences together to communicate a coherent thought is too much to ask of people who don't know how hashtags work.

Image via Gawker

Anne Taintor sued for using teetotaller's photo on a hip flask

Via Amazon

We're used to the format: Ironic vintage photo with snarky caption. It's a specialty of Anne Taintor, and we see it on cards, mugs, magnets and other novelty items.

Do you ever wonder where these retro photos came from, and whether they're rights-cleared? Well, here's one case where a stolen photo came back to bit the thief.

The flask pictured above, which is still on sale at Amazon and other outlets, apparently features the unauthorized image of a woman named Veronica Vigil in New Mexico. It's her 1970 graduation photo. Oh, and she's a teetotaller.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Ms. Vigil has filed suit against the Anne Taintor company, and a local gift shop carrying the item, stating:

“Plaintiff is an active member of her church and does not consume alcohol or drugs. Given the seriousness of the issues of substance abuse in the community in which plaintiff resides, she has held herself out by reputation for her children and her community, to refrain from abuse or even use of alcohol and illicit drugs and has set an example that the issue is a very serious one that destroys families and lives.”

It really can. Reminds me of the Christian college professor who got fired when his image was used (unauthorized) on beer labels.

Astroturf campaign targeted Walmart Black Friday protests

Last week, an organization calling itself "Worker Center Watch" launched a campaign to discredit the Walmart workers who staged protests across the United States to target Black Friday sales. Among the thousands of Walmart employees, the protests included labor union organizers and members there to push for living wages and more full-time positions.



According the The Nation, Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart, Parquet Public Affairs. They call themselves "an Issue Management, Communications, Government Relations and Reputation Assurance firm."

So yeah, astroturfing. The idea of "professional protestors," who are simply mercenary layabouts, is a populist tactic used to discredit all kinds of demonstrations.

The Walmart protests were, in fact, organized by "outside agitators." The union-backed Organization for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) calls itself "an independent, not-for-profit organization for hourly Associates." In other words, it's pushing for unionization.

Between Walmart and "union bosses," I side with the labour organizers. Their demands are simply a $15/hour wage and full-time hours. A corporation that pays its hourly employees so poorly that they need to do an internal food drive just to make sure everyone can feed their families will never be a hero in my mind.

(Thanks to John Hardy for the tip)

This NRA recruitment campaign sells it as a paramilitary group

Well, this is pretty creepy. The American National Rifle Association seems to really believe that gun-toting citizens are the only thing standing between order and anarchy:



It looks more like a military recruitment campaign than advocacy for gun enthusiasts, and that's on purpose. NRA President Wayne LaPierre likes to say that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" and believes that civilians with military-grade weapons can stop violent crime.

And apparently, according to their videos, bring an end to lying, cheating, indifference and general unAmericanism:



Although the weirdest one, for me, is this explanation that the solution to anger, road rage, and everyday violence is to give everyone a gun:



Americans have the right to bear arms specifically so that they can raise a citizen militia to remove corrupt governments. However, these ads make it seem as if an armed revolution against society's ills in imminent.

Here it is: The worst ad of the World Cup, via HOOTERS

We call it "soccer" in Canada too, and we have our own version of "football," and yet I've never seen anyone as confused about sports as ESPN NFL Analyst Jon Gruden, competitive eater Joey Chestnut, and pro golfer John Daly:



The writing! The acting! The humour that falls flat! The "dumb blonde" server! If you're looking for something that will make you want to beat yourself senseless with that frosty mug of beer, this ad really has it all.

Plus, the whole gag was already done by KIA.

Via caughtoffside.com

Bicycle ads say moms' lives are all about housework

What year is it again? 1954? 1964?

Two thousand fourteen, you say? I'd never know it from looking at this Huffy Bicycles campaign by Brunner, Pittsburgh. (Via Ads Of The World.)

The insight of cycling as a way to break free from life drudgery is a nice one. But what makes up the majority of these moms' lives? Housework, of course! Dishes! Dusting! Laundry!

Sure, there are many women who still stay home to raise their kids. And the hard work and sacrifices they make are important and worthy of respect. But to define those women's lives through housework is like giving one of them a vacuum for Christmas. It says "this is who you are. This is your job. This is what is expected of you." (Gods forbid a husband stay home, or even lift a broom, eh?)

The only hint that this campaign is from this decade, century and millennium is one execution that has the woman using mobile devices; not for any professional purpose, mind you. Just to kill the time.

Church billboard quotes Hitler on children

The Columbus, Georgia, Ledger-Enquirer reports that this billboard was placed by Life Saver Ministries, a Christian organization that promises "to reach the weakest and the forgotten, the 'at risk' children from the roughest areas," apparently with the wisdom of Adolph Hitler as well as Proverbs 22:6.

The billboard went up last Friday in Auburn, Alabama, and has since been removed. "We are pulling the billboard and certainly never intended to cause confusion," Life Saver Ministries founder James Anderegg told the Ledger-Enquirer. "Herbert Hoover would have been a far better one to quote when he said, 'Children are our most valuable resource. We are a children’s organization and had honorable intentions and nothing less."

Umm... sure.

Christian college prof appears on beer label, gets canned

Daily Mail

Holy City Brewing is a microbrewery in Charleston, South Carolina. This is one of their beer labels.

Daily Mail

And this is Paul Roof, who until recently worked as an associate professor of sociology at a Christian liberal arts college in North Charleston.

Charleston Southern University apparently told Dr. Roof that appearing on a beer can was "not representative of a Christian environment" and they fired him.

He claims that the picture, which was taken at a beard competition, was used without his knowledge and without compensation. However, Dr. Roof has a longstanding relationship with the beer brand. According to live5news, he founded the Holy City Beard and Moustache Society in 2007, with Holy City Brewing as a name sponsor. Charleston Southern was aware of his relationship with the company, but didn't have an issue with it until now.

The professor told NBC, "I was told that it was not representative of a Christian environment. And for me a Christian environment entails two things: looking out for other people and forgiveness of others who've transgressed you."

PETA is now blaming autism on dairy consumption

Oh, for fuck's sake, PETA.

Just when I thought you were ready to start making smart and funny advertising, you pull more of this shit.

Their claim:

More research is needed, but scientific studies have shown that many autistic kids improve dramatically when put on a diet free of dairy foods. One study of 20 children found a major reduction in autistic behavior in kids who were put on a casein-free diet (casein is a component of cow’s milk). And another study done by researchers at the University of Rome showed a “marked improvement” in the behavior of autistic children who were taken off dairy products.

Freethoughtblogs.com says that these studies are actually the work of the Autism Research Institute, which is described thusly in Wikipedia:

Quackwatch includes the Autism Research Institute on its list of "Questionable Organizations".  It holds to the medically-discredited belief that autism is caused by vaccinations.It also suggests chelation therapy, a treatment which is dangerous enough to have caused multiple deaths.

PETA also manages to rely on anecdotes from people who are convinced their autistic children improved by eliminating dairy:

Then I realized that Miles’ ear infections had begun when he was 11 months old, just after we had switched him from soy formula to cow’s milk. He’d been on soy formula because my family was prone to allergies, and I’d read that soy might be better for him. I had breast-fed until he was 3 months old, but he didn’t tolerate breast milk very well—possibly because I was drinking lots of milk. There was nothing to lose, so I decided to eliminate all the dairy products from his diet. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous. Miles stopped screaming, he didn’t spend as much time repeating actions, and by the end of the first week, he pulled on my hand when he wanted to go downstairs. For the first time in months, he let his sister hold his hands to sing “Ring Around a Rosy.”

Sound familiar? It's the Jenny McCarthy School of Medical Research!

If PETA wants to promote a dairy-free diet because they don't believe animals should be forcibly milked for human sustenance, then why don't they just say that? Instead, they continue to make questionable health claims about diet.

Clearnet has pulled the billboard.

Thanks to Jerome for the tip.

Islamophobic ad featuring Hitler says "stop racism"

Oh, that's rich.

This is just the latest PR stunt by "The American Freedom Defense Initiative" a rabidly anti-Islam group that insists every single Muslim is a radical bent on genocide.

This ad, according to the Washington Post, features Adolf Hitler talking to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem who supported the Holocaust.

AFDI claim their ads are a response to "the vicious Jew-hating ads … unleashed on Washington DC Metro buses last month.” by American Muslims for Palestine:

The AMP ad, reminding Americans that some of their tax money goes to Israeli aid, it certainly politically charged. But it just doesn't seem quite as over-the-top as the response.

Perhaps all sides of religious conflicts should make an agreement not to judge each other by the acts of their worst zealots, or the bloodthirsty and weird writings of their ancestors. We can debate US foreign policy until we're red, white, and blue in the face, but the only sure way to lose the argument is to succumb to Godwin's Law.