Thursday, March 31, 2011

Follow Your Dreams.

This sounds rather simple, and the truth: IT IS.  Today we all are running around at nine million miles an hour constantly doing things we think are SO important and meaningful, when in reality if we stopped, slowed down and focused on one thing at a time we would be able to see the bigger picture.


"The essence of leadership is being able to see the ice burg before it hits the Titanic." Huffington says in this talk.

She's right!  By constantly pushing our bodies to the brink every day we begin to literally walk around like the living dead.  Being a zombi gets you nowhere accept blown apart by Bruce Campbell's Boom-stick.

Not to mention dreams.  Living in constant reality does not give the body time dream and dreams are extremely important.  Through dreams humans are able to grasp beyond everyday  life and imagine the unimaginable.  People learn what they are to live for, what they want to strive for and most importantly they learn who they want to become.  I believe Arianna Huffington merely scratched the surface with this issue.  It is only through our dreams that we are able to conceptualize what we want our world to become.

I feel there is no better way to end my 30 days than on a note about dreams.  I have so many for this blog, and for my own future.  Without a doubt this challenge has enriched my experiences and given me entirely new perspectives on things I never would have heard about otherwise.  I am proud to say that I have completed this challenge and look forward to passing the blog off to the next student.

Best wishes! And don't forget to Dream big!

Chelsey L. Hughes

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ladies, We've Come a Long Way

Ladies, today we may complain about the way the media portrays us, but I want you to look at how far we have actually come.  Today honestly people do recognize that while super-models out there do exists, in all actuality the "real woman" is the celebrated one.

Not so in the 1950's



Yes... this is an actual ad for "Eat, Eat, Eating" TAPEWORMS to be thin... ummm I'll take the diet pills any day!  (Just kidding).  But seriously, part of the text reads, "Friends for the fair form."

Next up...

Spousal abuse.  ... just for "not store testing the coffee".

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Yes part of this actually reads, "A man marries a woman because he loves her.  So instead of blaming him if married love begins to cool, she should question herself."... ladies... seriously.  I we have come a LONG way.


So this is where that cliche' comes from.

hilarious vintage sexist womens health ads



and last but not least


Yes... thank you women's rights movement for giving me the chance to do something other than make a sandwich.  Seriously though, before today I never realized how differently women have been portrayed in the media over the past 60 years.  I realize there are still problems today and there may always be, but again at least I'm not being told to eat a tape worm :D

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Color Purple's Alice Walker

Considering there are only a few days left in March and we are yet honor just one truly fantastic woman, I feel now is the perfect time.   Her name is Alice Walker, and she is most notably known for writing the novel The Color Purple.






[Produced into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1985, staring Danny Glover, Whoppi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to name a few, then later created into a Tony Award winning Broadway hit also produced by Oprah Winfrey, which will be playing at the Huntington Keith-Albee Theatre this Friday April 1, 8:00 PM in case you haven't seen this masterpiece].  





 Alice Walker accomplished much more than writing Pulitzer prize winning novels and having them be turned into plays.  According to About.com's bibliography: "She was the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers.  After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College on scholarships, graduating in 1965.  


Alice Walker volunteered in the voter registration drives of the 1960s in Georgia, and went to work after college in the Welfare Department in New York City.


Alice Walker married in 1967 (and divorced in 1976). Her first book of poems came out in 1968 and her first novel just after her daughter's birth in 1970.


Alice Walker's early poems, novels and short stories dealt with themes familiar to readers of her later works: rape, violence, isolation, troubled relationships, multi-generational perspectives, sexism and racism.


When The Color Purple came out in 1982, Walker became known to an even wider audience. Her Pulitzer Prize and the movie by Steven Spielberg brought both fame and controversy. She was widely criticized for negative portrayals of men in The Color Purple, though many critics admitted that the movie presented more simplistic negative pictures than the book's more nuanced portrayals.
Walker also published a biography of the poet, Langston Hughes, and worked to recover and
publicize the nearly-lost works of writer Zora Neale Hurston. She's credited with introducing the word "womanist" for African American feminism.

Langston Hughes Fest Exhibit
From left: The ninth President of The City College of New York, Bernard Harleston; Dennis Brutus, Paule Marshall, and Alice Walker at the 1988 Langston Hughes Festival at CCNY. Source: The City College of New York Archives. 

In 1989 and 1992, in two books, The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy, Walker took on the issue of female circumcision in Africa, which brought further controversy: was Walker a cultural imperialist to criticize a different culture?


Her works are known for their portrayals of the African American woman's life. She depicts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make that life often a struggle. But she also portrays as part of that life, the strengths of family, community, self-worth, and spirituality.


Many of her novels depict women in other periods of history than our own. Just as with non-fiction women's history writing, such portrayals give a sense of the differences and similarities of women's condition today and in that other time.


Alice Walker continues not only to write, but to be active in environmental, feminist/womanist causes, and issues of economic justice."


Again thanks to About.com for the bio.  


Looking for more by Alice Walker:



Alice Walker Bibliography:

  • In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1974 (reprint).
  • I Love Myself When I Am Laughing...& Then Again When I Am Looking Mean & Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader. Zora Neale Hurston; Alice Walker, editor. Trade Paperback, 1979.
  • The Color Purple: Alice Walker. Trade Paperback, 1998 (originally 1982).
  • In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1984 (originally 1983).
  • Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning: Poems: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1984.
  • Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful: Poems: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1986.
  • Living by the Word: Selected Writings, 1973-1987: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1989 (originally 1988).
  • The Temple of My Familiar: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1997 (originally 1989).
  • Possessing the Secret of Joy: Alice Walker (editor: Bill Grose), Paperback, 1993 (originally 1992).
  • Alice Walker & Zora Neale Hurston: The Common Bond: Lillie P. Howard, Contributions in Afro-American & African Series #163 (1993)
  • Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, 1965-1990 Complete: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1993.
  • Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult: A Meditation on Life, Spirit, Art & the Making of the Film, The Color Purple, Ten Years Later: Alice Walker, 1997 (originally 1996).
  • Alice Walker Banned: The Banned Works: Alice Walker, edited and with commentary by Patricia Holt, Hardcover, 1996. Includes Walker's short stories "Roselily" and "Am I Blue?", plus the opening of The Color Purple, and raises questions of censorship.
  • Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism: Essays, Speeches, Statements and Letters. Alice Walker, Hardcover, 1997. Also Paperback.
  • By the Light of My Father's Smile: A Novel: Alice Walker, Trade Paperback, 1999.
  • Alice Walker: An Annotated Bibliography: Erma D. Banks and Keith Byerman, Hardcover, 1989.
  • Alice Walker: Harold Bloom, editor. Library Binding, January 1990. Critical essays on The Color Purple and other works by Alice Walker.
  • Alice Walker Bibliographies on the Web

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Bargain Hunt.

After much searching today all across the interwebs I finally found a fun ad worth sharing that fits the stipulations of this blog. [Reminder to those of you who forgot, the 30 Day Marshall Mass Communications Challenge is not a 30 day Feminist rant.  March is Women's History month and thus both the journalism website as well as this blog are honoring that celebration.  Next month will be something completely different and run by an entirely new student. I for one am looking forward to seeing where else this blog can really go :D.  The sky's the limet]

Thus the BARGAIN HUNT.




The copy reads "Three Crazy Days, Starts Thursday 2 October".

Advertising Agency: Selmore, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Creative Directors: Bas Korsten, Michael Jansen
Art Director: Esin Cittone
Copywriter: Dom Nash
Photographer: Jonathan Barkat
Account: Rina Verweij, Wencke van Lankveld
I think these ads do a great job of pulling concept across.  The whole idea of having a literal hunt for fashion is SO how I know at least I feel like when I'm going out on a day like Black Friday or something.  In fact how fun would this be to run it through the ages? Have pirate women taking back their booty even...too far?  Maybe.  But seriously, what about modern gangsters / bounty hunting after their shoes, purses, tops and accessories?  Or even showing desperate housewives repelling from roofs and setting crazy traps for the animated products they covet so intensely. 
The photography is here good.  I like the bright images.  If you make them too dark and vogue wedding photography I feel it will not keep the fun feel to the experience a woman is about to have.  But you have to admit there's nothing like walking into a store and knowing you're on safari?  (ladies? you know this to be true.)  Men, let me try to relate... Call of Duty, video games... how much effort do you put into getting that new release.  The hunt to a acquire and conquer is born into you.  These ads strike that a connection and a concept on that primal level that we as advertisers don't always think about.  I dig this.  

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sexy Sucker Punch


"From the very first frames of the film, "Sucker Punch" rejects reality," says film reviewer Drew McWeeny. The opening literally allows the audience to walk on to Director Zack Snyders stage and into the life of Baby Doll (Emily Browning's) worst day ever.  In a movie about freeing yourself from the chains of your own personal misfortune never have I enjoyed a ride more.  


This film is a perfect lesson to artists and designers everywhere.  It seems to be that ever shot, every costume, every cheesed up slogan and run down insane asylum room was specifically chosen.  Often I would wonder... "Did they go too far?  What's the point? I mean a dragon?  A pink bunny?"  Then I realized "Hell.  No."  This movie is the very definition of "Bad Ass".  Everything used in this film DOES have a purpose.  Looks, sounds, emotions all tie in together to create climax and pitfalls at ever turn.  Most reviews of this film have been poor and I am starting to wonder... did they even watch it?  This film is about breaking all the rules thus with that choice, making completely new ones. From naming the brunet "Blondie" to the opening number with Echo's version of Cher's "Sweet Dreams" ever frame that is shown hits like a perfectly timed music video. 


The characters in this film do have lots of lose ends, but that's part of their charm.  I don't know who walks into a facility for the mentally insane and thinks they're going to be able to understand the intricacies of those who are found there.  Like the two sisters "Rocket" and "Sweet Pea" who somehow end up behind the walls after Rocket ran away from home.  Also, in the image to the left Rocket is standing among a toy train set with a needle (which I have no clue what that's alluding to) along with her outfit.  It's the not knowing that makes this film.  I also love the lack of actual names given to the characters, it's nice to see something different. The film feels so much like a graphic novel that just sprung off the page but the story was never written previously (unlike Snyder's previous films "300" and "Watchmen").  


Another aspect in this movie: sexuality.  It's everywhere.  The costumes especially, but these chicks are just down right hot, independent women who know how to get the job done.  Ladies you're crazy if you wouldn't want to be them, men you're lying if you say you don't want them.   


Yes, this movie does take some effort to watch.  Rolling along the lines of Christopher Nolan's Inception by allowing the "theatre of the mind" to take over.  The story line dwells within three different realities.  The best part: realities within realities leaves the story open for so much interpretation.  Does death ever really even happen? How do you know when you're actually alive? 


No matter what you think of this film, get it or not you can not deny it is hands down a feast for the senses.  

Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Washing Machine, Best Invention EVER!

This is a change to learn something.  The washing machine used so heavily by your mother, your grandmother and the women before them is quite possibly the greatest invention to come from the industrial revolution, or at least that's how Hans Rosling feels.  The cool thing I liked about this talk was how interactive the washing machine was.  By placing a human inside and having them hand out things the machine honestly came to life on stage.  This talk is something that should be seen as a great way subtly implement drama into public speaking.  Among all Rosling's good points were hidden gems of surprise and captivation through live movement.

Note:  I find it interesting that this TedTalk is found under TedWomen... A man speaks for this talk and yet for some reason... only women do laundry?  I don't know how I feel about this.  I feel men are perfectly capable of handling laundering and although I almost always love everything that comes from TED this was questionable on basis of being sexist?  Or was it?  Hmmm I'm not sure.  Either way Rosling does make a good point and the drama behind his plea is worth watching.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Paris, Prison, Puppies

parisonprisonadvertisement1.jpg
Advertising Agency: DDB, New Zealand
Copywriter: Martin Brown, Bridget Short
Art Director: Darran Wong Kam, Pete Thompson


Ok, yes Paris Hilton may not be role model of the year, nor anything about her something worth following, BUT...look at this ad.  Old new yes, but I'd never see this before.  I find it amazingly well done.  For a broadcast story to have an image like this selling I believe is very powerful.

Take a look at this photo, Paris isn't really even in it.  Sure, she looks terrified in her reflection, but the who thing driving the eye in the ad is the look on the little dog's face.  I believe using the dog and the set up of this entire image gives a slightly fun feel to a seriously not so fun situation that one of America's royals (like it or not) found herself in.  By putting the image in first person audiences, even if for a brief second are allowed to be in Paris' shoes, but again the little puppy allows them to see that, well none of it can be too terrible.

Case it point.  This ad totally sells to the story. Thoughts?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Lung Cancer; a Fashion Faux Pas

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Agencey: Foote, Cone & Belding; Singapore


Well, what do we think?  First of all I do believe without doing any further research or wondering, its easy to get what's going on here.  Models, from what I gather, have a tendency for not the healthiest of lifestyles.  Personally, I know plenty of actors and show-biz type folks who would agree smoking does keep the weight off.  In fact I had one professor in class tell me, "Ya the 80s were all about the super-model diet -- cigarets and a Diet Coke."

Honestly, I really enjoy these.  Unfortunately I could not find the text for the smaller copy in these ads, but I don't really think it is necessary.  If I had to guess I would say it just elaborates on the effects of Lung Caner in women.  Which unless you've been living ten miles underground for the last 70 years I'd say you already know.  I believe FCB is aiming at the high fashion, high pressure and high vanity industry.

Think in your life who is smoking?  Why?  It doesn't matter if they admit it or not I would bet $500,000 house in the Grand Caimans that deep down somewhere they feel just tad bit "cooler" when sitting around outside, in a bar or a local coffee shop with their empowering, confidence boosting cig in hand.  It's like you're part of this elite, unspoken brotherhood or something.

That's what these ads get at, trying to show that, while smoking may be leading to some cool things now...really you could be the most attractive person in the world... it means nothing if your dead.  My major critique would have to be the women look too beautiful.  They are taking away from the point.  Zombify them up a even more and have the fashion be he only "pretty" thing worth looking at. All the same the ads do justice to their point.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Elizabeth Taylor, Empowering Legend

The world will forever remember Elizabeth Taylor as a house hold beauty, a name and a face that  harkens back to classic Hollywood.  She be a definition of grace and elegance but what about Liz Taylor -- one of the greatest PR women of all time:

Taylor fought many battles but one of her first, and most successful was battle she raged against AIDs.  Even before President Reagan Elisabeth Taylor was raging war on this disease. In the following article from Good.is learn more about the woman behind the grace.  She truly was an inspiring and influential woman: 



Remember: Elizabeth Taylor Fought AIDS Before Even President Reagan



taylorandreagan



While many are marking Elizabeth Taylor's passing today by pointing out her great beauty or talent as an actor, we here at GOOD would be remiss if we didn't note the tremendous strides Taylor made in the fight against AIDS.
While then President Reagan remained shamefully mum at the outset of America's AIDS crisis—which is 30 years old this year—Taylor partnered with Dr. Michael Gottlieb and others to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). With that organization as her lifelong platform, Taylor raised awareness of AIDS like no one before her—and also raised more than $100 million to combat the disease.
In 1987, Taylor, then the national chairwoman of amfAR, was even able to get Reagan to break his silence on AIDS by speaking at that year's annual fundraising dinner. "I am writing from my heart to ask if you both would attend the dinner," she wrote in a letter to Ronald and Nancy Reagan prior to the event, "and if you, Mr. President, would give the keynote speech." Reagan gave the speech—six years too late, of course—and Reagan's speechwriter would later admit that the Gipper might have begged off had it not been for Taylor's personal appeal.
By the time Reagan gave that speech, 40,000 Americans had already diedof AIDS. Shudder to think how long he'd have ignored those thousands passed had it not been for Elizabeth Taylor.
[Article from: www.good.is]

Looking for more?  Watch this video obituary from SkyNews:

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

1, Adidas Women's World Cup - China vs USA commercial

This. Is. Amazing.  
No but seriously there really were no words the first time I saw this ad.  Even though it's from 2003, when I first watched it the only thing I could physically do was let my jaw hang open and catch flies.  Why?  You know the answer yourself if you think about it.

Single shots, following a single item, the soccer ball with a single word to focus on -- Adidas. What makes it cool? Lots of them :D and they are so perfectly in sync!  It's just down right impressive in a crazy super-hero-soccer-woman kind of way!  Normal people don't do this. Hence, why we watch the FIFA World Cup.  Something else this ad does well is NOT play down women's sports.  If anything the commercial works to make the women more hard-core than the men, and that is an encouraging thing.

The ad was designed by Adidas to play up the rivalry between USA and China, and how could it not?  If a chinese soccer team showed up for morning practice on the front lawn of your hotel...what would you do? Although, I still feel the ad stays pretty balanced when it comes to the intimidation factor.  While the Chinese women are looking seriously intense with their strict discipline and uniformity, you can just feel the confidence exploding from the American side. It's American women, they're eyes are telling you, "We don't do uniform.  We never have.  We're not impressed. Now, let's play."

The goal was to create commercial that shows off a product, meanwhile capitalizing on the rivalry that exists between two nations.  Consider this challenge, complete.

I just really want to watch the game now!  

Monday, March 21, 2011

2, Levi's Jeans

 Ok, so what does this commercial say?  It speaks out to ever little girl who has turned into a sexy woman and still wants a pony (aka me!). I love this because the target market is going after a very nice niche of women.  Excited, young, woman who feel they can do anything and their jeans need to be able to keep up!  Way to rock it out Levi!

What is this commercial lacking?  How about the fact that it's a little random?  Agreed.  Thoughts?

Sunday, March 20, 2011

3 Pantene, You Can Shine.

So this commercial may not be english, but it should be.  What if you were def, but you really wanted to learn to play the violin? Ok so what if you were def and mute?  Of course everyone in the world would be telling you how you will be doing nothing but becoming a failure, right?  Now, against all odds, you and your fabulous hair have taken the work by shock and done it!  This ad from Thailand acts on that little thing in a girls brain that tells her when she's looking good and feeling good, she can do anything.

Too often I feel advertisers see that as weakness in women and strike out to take advantage of them, but not here.  In this case it's made into a four minuet cinematic inspiration.

Pantene, You Can Shine.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

4, GIRLS from Harvard Invent a Soccer that Captures Energy with Every Kick.

... Oh.  My.  God.  This ad is more of an infomercial for the most amazing thing I've ever seen and I'm in love.  For every fifteen minuets of play a simple, round, soccer ball can power an LED light for up to three hours... THREE HOURS!!!  When  you couple this with the fact that 25% of the world's children do not have electricity, but nearly every one of them plays soccer... that's what I call seeing a problem and creating a solution.

The women created this ball as a renewable energy for children in developing countries. The ad from sOccet showcases an invention with revolutionary potential for the developing world; its tone matches the excitement and tremendous power of the simple idea it features. If you'll notice the splice-like nature of the shots, combined with jumps in segments works create the experience of an electrical short, meanwhile showcasing the ordinary, subtle product the entire time. Not to mention it was the brains of 4 women who put it together?!  Way to go ladies!


Article from Popular Mechanics:
The Soccer Ball That Makes Electricity During the Game


The Brilliant Idea: A soccer ball that can power an LED light, providing clean energy in developing countries.
BY LOGAN WARD AND THE EDITORS OF POPULAR MECHANICS



September 29, 2010 6:30 AM
Julia Silverman, Jessica Lin and Jessica Matthews
Julia Silverman, Jessica Lin and Jessica Matthews
Photograph by Nick Ruechel

Small-scale, hand-cranked generators that power lights and radios are practical in places where there’s no electricity. But they’re not a whole lot of fun. Four undergraduate students at Harvard University decided to harvest the kinetic energy of soccer, the world’s most popular sport, instead. After just 15 minutes of play, their sOccket ball could provide families in sub-Saharan Africa—where less than 25 percent of the population has access to reliable electricity—with 3 hours of LED light, a clean, efficient alternative to kerosene lamps. 

The mechanics are straightforward: When the sOccket rolls, a magnetic slug slides back and forth inside an inductive coil in the ball, generating 
power that is stored in a capacitor. Field-tested in South Africa during the World Cup, sOccket 2.0 has an embedded DC jack and weighs only 5 ounces more than a FIFA-regulated ball. A future version should hold enough juice—3.7 volts at a capacity of 600 milliamps per hour—to charge a basic cellphone. The women partnered with a manufacturer in Cape Town and hope to subsidize developing-world discounts with sales in the U.S. 
Soccket

Still want to know more about how it works? Check out one of the developers and see her story on where the ideas came from.  You may be surprised to learn none of them were engineers. 



Friday, March 18, 2011

Number 5, Pink Ponies

John St. is a 100-person creative collaborative that uses design, digital, strategy and creative to market brands.


Their challenge: In 2010 John's St. had their toughest challenge yet, make Chelsea's 8th birthday the best one ever.  


In an already cluttered birthday market the company had to pull out all the stops.  Everything they had, direct mail, social media, and more had to become a full scale collaboration for the event of a lifetime. 


Ok, what makes this cool?  How about the fact that a company used their amazing skills for a simple girl's birthday.  It's so simple, people can learn, finally, what goes into making a real ad campaign through a 2 minuet commercial.  They see the types of marketing, the creative executions and how concepts all come together create more than birthday but an experience that lasts a lifetime.  


 Talk about creative, this is amazing!  Rather than just tossing out one of their awesome campaign ideas around John St. showed the world that be their client a fortune five hundred company, or an 8 year old girl, everyone is important and requires their best attention.  Great work! 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Number 6, Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular

Everyone knows Target to be this ordinary discount clothing brand, but what about when they take women, fashion and stop outside the runway into the box rather than out of it?  This astonishing and beautifully executed live fashion show is simply mesmerizing to me along with the  thousands who gathered to watch on the streets below. An ingenious way to promote a product, while engaging viewers in a tangible experience.

Target Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular in New York City, was a collaboration between advertising agency Mother New York and media production company Legs Media. 

According to a journalists Laura Neilson, "The 20 minute-long light show extravaganza featured dancers and models grooving in the window frames of various rooms, illuminated intermittently by colored flashes synched to original music written by Sam Spiegel (also known as Squeak E. Clean of N.A.S.A.). The event was intended as a celebration of the mega-retailer's fall 2010 fashion lineup, although we took the term "fashion show" pretty loosely, choosing to focus more on the "show" than the fashion. Truthfully, it was pretty hard to even  notice the clothes given all the other sensational visuals.
Serendipitously, Target couldn't have chosen a better night for such an audio-visual blowout. The sunset was breathtaking, and far more than the red carpet turnout, which included Nina GarciaPenn BadgleyMary-Louise Parker, and a few gals from The City, it provided the perfect overture for the night's performance."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Number 7, The Chase - Intel

Ok, so you've watched this ad, and I'd say you're wondering... what makes this a worthy of Chelsey's top 10?  And what does this have to do with women? Well, the women part is a stretch, but the fact that the company uses strong female leads as their secret agent super ladies is pretty sweet.  If you watch, by doing this I feel the women are putting just a little bit of sexuality into a seemingly not so sexy electronic box.  (I mean really, at it's core, that's all a computer is).


In all actuality, what better way to talk about a computer and show everything it does than by turning a tech product demo into an exciting action film -- rolling all the different things one microprocessor can do into a single cinematic experience.  Not only is it entertaining (which I will forever subscribe the philosophy that ads must entertain), the continuous action serves its purpose creating instant excitement for an audience before they ever even touch the product.  


I'm sold. 

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Number 8, Satisfaction the granny remake for EqualPayday

Watch and think.



Although a tad bit on the long side, I am very thankful to my good friend Neil Garton from Morgantown, WV for posting this.  It's amazing what this ad is saying.  We are forcing our women to work until their grannie-hood, by paying them so little. Thanks to all the bums jiggling, and teeth licking imagery the audience visualizes (maybe in an slightly exaggerated way) what it's like to work into your late 60s.  I realize my friend posted this out of possibly just entertainment, but that's what I like even more.  

Real issues have become pure entertainment.  

Hurrah!!! Ads doing what you were created to do. 

Equal Pay Day
Text Reads "The less you earn the longer you work."

About Equal Pay Day:

Equal Payday is a worldwide organization that pleads for equal pay for women. The 
campaign is a Belgian initiative by the organization ‘zij-kant’ (her-side), the progressive 
women’s movement in Flanders, Belgium. 

On average, women earn 23% less than men and this inequality is brought to mind every 
year at the end of March, because women have to work a year and 3 months (till March) to 
earn as much as men do in a year.

The idea behind this year’s campaign is that ‘getting paid less equals having to work longer’.
Advertising agency Mortierbrigade has come up with a striking campaign: a remake of the 
world famous Benny Benassi video ‘Satisfaction’. In the original video you see sexy young 
women handle power tools in a highly sensual way. In the new video the babes have 
become old women who are still doing the same work. Every one of them old grannies 
around 60 years old who still have to give their best. 

Jens Mortier of mortierbrigade: “‘Satisfaction’ is one of the most famous videos in the world. 
Many parodies have been made, but no one has ever done this for a real advertiser, and to 
address a real problem. The video is the perfect setting to symbolize women who have to 
work too long. Benny Benassi himself gave his blessing to use both music and video.”
Vera Claes of zij-kant: “With this campaign we’re looking to reach young people, because 
the sooner they are made aware of this injustice, the sooner they can do something about it. 
Which is all the more urgent, as your current pay determines your pension. This remake was 
the ideal way to do that.”

I believe they've done it. :)

PS just for your information TEDs top 10 has been revamped to Chelsey Hughes' Top 10 :D



Monday, March 14, 2011

Number 9, Nike's "The Girl Effect".

My number nine in Teds 10 ads worth watching:





"This ad uses animation brilliantly to make clear the benefits of investing in a single worthy cause. It sheds light -- and hope -- on one of the most overlooked, yet promising, assets on this planet: 12-year-old girls."- TEDtalk


For those of you who still think Nike is up to no good, try this one one for size.  Nike's three minuet long kinetic type video launches their idea for, "The Girl Effect".  The interesting thing, they don't even say their name in the commercial.  I find it amazing that company with a pretty poor PR rep wouldn't plaster themselves all over this, yet they do not.  maybe that's supposed to be the idea?

While this is an awesome example of kinetic type, I feel this ad could stop about 2 min in, but it keeps going.  I feel it becomes almost too overstated yet the point is made.  Young girls need our help.

Watch and let me know what YOU think...


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Teds 10 Ads Worth Spreading

According to the website Alltop, "The folks behind TED believe the online advertising trend that has brought an onslaught of obnoxious, in-your-face ads to our computer screens has caused more annoyance than anything else. To combat this irritating trend, TED has selected ten ads that “tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection, become unforgettable.” The 2-5 minute spots may run longer than the usual 30 second commercials seen on television, but their form of intelligent engagement makes them worth watching."

Thus, for the next 10 days I have chosen to focus on 10 ads (chosen by TedTALKS) worth spreading.  At first I thought, eh lets cram them all into one day, then I watched the ads.  They are so mind blowing that  they could not truly have their due if smashed all together.  

And so, today I give you # 10:
Nokia

The World’s Smallest Stop-motion Character Animation

So what makes this ad so amazing, the people at TED say, "We love how this ad brings showcase and entertainment together, demonstrating a new smartphone's imaging capabilities through a magical, microscopic animation. (Fun fact: this ad holds a Guinness World Record as the smallest stop-motion animated film.)"

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Spice Up Your Life.

Spice Girls - Giving You Everything Part 1 (see the rest on youtube).
Tonight we pay homage to one of the top selling bands of all time: The Spice Girls!  What is it about this group that made them so amazing?  They catered to everyone!  Baby Spice, Ginger Spice, Sporty Spice, Posh Spice and Scary Spice, no matter what every woman found a way to fit in somewhere.  The lifespan of the Spice Girls is something to this day fans would sell a kidney for just to see a reunion tour.  But how did they become this crazy mega pop sensation? What reeled people into loving platform shoes and peace signs?

Honestly, even after watching their documentary on youtube, I don't have much of an answer and I think that's what is fantastic.  Here is a pop singing sensation that is about one thing, "Girl Power".  No one knew when they first started to preach their message if they were going to fail or make it, and these days the odds of making it are about as slim as the space between peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich... nonexistent.  Yet, the cosmos came together and poored in just the right combination of things to equal TA-DA! Success!

I feel like if there was a way to figure out the exact combinations though, then advertising wouldn't be nearly as fun or exciting.  Having that risk of failure is something not everyone on this planet can handle, and while I'm sure the Big Man Upstairs would like a guarantee of a profit, the risk of failure definitely allows for growth in a person and a company.

Here's to the Spice Girls, to their success and GIRL POWER!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Geisha, Human Embodiment of Art.

With the tsunami in Japan today I felt paying homage to country founded on tradition and art would be the least I could do.

THE GEISHA


When you look up a definition for these women they come off sounding like early Japanese prostitutes, but that is not at all what they were.  Nowhere in the world (as far as I know) has a group of women ever tried to so hard to be the very essence, living breathing and walking of art.  From the way they painted their faces, to their hair and clothing, there are simply no words.

I find it amazing that this was their profession: art.  All of their lives they were doing nothing but living as art.  To me, that sound like a very difficult standard to live up to.  Traditions, and ceremonies driving their existence.

Watch and learn, do you have what it takes to be a Geisha?