Lung Cancer; a Fashion Faux Pas

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.

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

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:

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!  

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?

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.

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

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. 

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. 

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!