School of Life Monday:Art is Advertising for What We Really Need

School Life Monday:The Clever Tricks of Advertising

Adverts know us well and therefore tease us with promises of love, friendship, calm and success – but then go on merely to sell us things we don’t particularly need: like bars of chocolate or sports cars.

Sunday Lessons continued... “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?”

"Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?" from Dial M Films on Vimeo.

MAD magazine's most vicious advertising parodies, circa 1960

from Dangerous Minds

From 1957 to 2001, Mad magazine ran no outside ads—a highly noteworthy feat. Ideally, advertising income should finance 100% of a magazine’s operating costs, materials, payroll, profit, everything, leaving actual newsstand and subscription revenues as mere icing on the cake (that’s how alt weeklies can pull off free-of-charge distribution—well, that and criminally underpaying their art directors BUT I’M NOT BITTER). Mad‘s model was such a drastic inversion of the usual magazine industry business template that, off the top of my head, I can think of few other long-running rags to pull that off—Cooks Illustrated and Consumer Reports, both of which, if I recall correctly, survive on at least some institutional support, and the horrifying Reader’s Digest, which finally began taking ads in the ‘70s, probably realizing via the success of the era’s televangelists what a goldmine of suckers their elderly right-wing audience could be.

Mad‘s late founding publisher and giant among beautiful freaks William Gaines refused ads for so long because he felt it would compromise the publication’s satirical bent. In this amusing TV segment, Gaines spelled out his rejection of advertising bluntly and succinctly:

We don’t believe in merchandising. We make FUN of people who suck every last dime out of a product, and so we won’t do it.

It made sense—if for example Marlboro was paying the bills, writers might feel abashed to target Marlboro, and as it happens, Mad absolutely savaged the cigarette industry, even going so far, as you’ll see below, as to compare its death toll to Hitler’s. But so if all the revenue came from the readers alone, it was the readers alone who’d be served by the publication, and the writers and artists could freely satirize any entity they wanted to. And so they did—their advertising parodies are legendary, and a Flickr user by the handle of Jasperdo has amassed an excellent collection of them. Most of them are from the late ‘50s to mid-‘60s, coinciding with the advertising industry’s so-called “creative revolution,” so naturally they all appropriate the distinctive feel of that era.

Clever Ikea ad treats print as a new technology: 'Experience the power of a bookbook'

"At only 8mm thin, and weighing in at less than 400g, the 2015 IKEA Catalogue comes pre-installed with thousands of home furnishing ideas."


Thanks, Boing Boing

This Ad Has a Secret Anti-Abuse Message That Only Kids Can See

from GIZMODO:

In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out for help, a Spanish organization called the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation, or ANAR for short, created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time.

The secret behind the ad's wizardry is a lenticular top layer, which shows different images at varying angles. So when an adult—or anyone taller than four feet, five inches—looks at it they only see the image of a sad child and the message: "sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it." But when a child looks at the ad, they see bruises on the boy's face and a different message: "if somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you" alongside the foundation's phone number.

The ad is designed to empower kids, particularly if their abuser happens to be standing right next to them. And while this is a great and worthwhile use of lenticular images, how long will it be before toy companies start doing to the same thing to hawk their products directly at kids?

Big Tobacco will have to run a national advertising campaign apologizing for lying about health risks from smoking

US district judge Gladys Kessler has ordered the world's largest tobacco companies to pay for a two-year, national US advertising campaign to apologize for lying about smoking's health risks, and for perverting the science on the issue.

Kessler's ruling on Tuesday, which the companies could try to appeal against, aims to finalise the wording of five different statements the companies will be required to use.

One of them begins: "A federal court has ruled that the defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public by falsely selling and advertising low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes."

Another statement includes the wording: "Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day."

Tobacco companies ordered to admit they lied over smoking danger

Thanks, BoingBoing

AdHawk: who's behind that political ad?

from BoingBoing:



Nicko from the Sunlight Foundation sez,

The Sunlight Foundation recently launched a free mobile app to help voters better know who is buying political ads this election year. Ad Hawk available for iPhone and Android, listens to campaign, super PAC and issue ads on the TV or radio and then lists information about who placed the ads, their campaign finance profile and other information.

Ad Hawk is simple to use: just listen, identify and learn. When you see a political ad on TV or hear one on the radio, open the app to have Ad Hawk start listening to the ad. In less than 30 seconds, Ad Hawk will create an audio fingerprint using open-source technology and start searching our database of thousands of ads for a match. We identify new ads by monitoring media reports and the YouTube channels of political groups and campaigns. When Ad Hawk finds a match, users will get information on their phone about how much money the ad's sponsor received or spent, where the ad is on the air and media reports about the candidate or political group.

Ad Hawk: Identify Political Ads As They Air

Signs I like to See

Incredible Spiral Illustrations by Chan Hwee Chong

To demonstrate their Artist Pens, Faber Castell had Singapore-based art director and designer Chan Hwee Chong create meticulous spiral drawings of three masterpieces using their pens. In case the drawings themselves aren’t proof enough of Chong’s skill, a video was shot by Eric Yeo as he draws Girl With A Pearl Earring. This is advertising at its best. See more on Behance.

Ocean Levels Are Rising Faster Than Ever

Ok, maybe this will make up for yesterday's harshness. Here's another campaign done really incredibly, much more passive, but even more creative perhaps.



from YouTube:

The board respects celestial mechanics (Kepler Rocks!). It's perpendicular to the equator, with an unobstructed exposure to the west. The "waves" start at about 12:00 when the sun crosses the threshold above the board. The challenge was not the sun's azimuth, but altitude, which due to the Earth's tilt requires the scalloped awning's shape to be distorted so the shadow appears correct. Thanks to CBS Outdoor, and PLEASE support the WWF.

10:10 NO Pressure environmental awareness campaign gone bad?

Looking through the usual environmental blogs i stumbled upon this video not to long ago. so before you watch it let's just check these two comments: "Some might say that the 10:10 “No Pressure” ad was a resounding success, because it got so much media attention. Others – perhaps those who got it temporarily removed from YouTube – say it’s a grotesque example of shoving environmentalism down people’s throats. Whatever your opinion, blowing up schoolchildren is clearly one way to get noticed."
and then the actual people who put it together made this apology:

Last week, 10:10 made available a short film. Following the initial reaction to the film we removed it from our website and issued an apology on Friday 2 October.

Subsequently there has been negative comment about the film, particularly on blogs, and concern from others working hard to build support for action on climate change. We are very sorry if this has distracted from their efforts.

We are also sorry to our corporate sponsors, delivery partners and board members, who have been implicated in this situation despite having no involvement in the film’s production or release.

We will learn from this mistake. Today I have written to supporters and stakeholders explaining that we will review processes and procedures to make sure it cannot happen again. Responsibility for this process is being taken by the 10:10 board.

The media coverage of the film was not the kind of publicity we wanted for 10:10, nor for the wider movement to reduce carbon emissions.

If people have been in touch with us personally about the film, we will be replying to individual emails over the next few days. Meanwhile our thanks go out to all those who support 10:10 and who work to combat the threat of climate change.

Eugenie Harvey
Director, 10:10 UK
hello@1010uk.org

Many will say this is a perfect example of what NOT to do when trying to convince people that there is a problem, i'm certainly not one for gore, but i think it's pretty heavy and makes the point well.



fucking awesome ending.

Another Viral (bad ass) TV commercial(If you're 12 years old)

Take all the ingredients of an average car commercial, zipping through empty streets, curving tightly, splashing over puddles, braking at a moment's notice and so on.

Sure, we've seen this before, but have you seen it in 1/10 scale RC model cars: one a model of a Nissan Sentra SE-R and the other an anonymous camera mounted car that captures the footage played in the commercial along with the camera on the RC helicopter.

from Presurfer

Kids Would Prefer if You Do Not Destroy the Earth

from DangerousMinds:

New ad spot from Moms Against Climate Change pits child protesters against riot cops in the cuddliest demonstration ever.

Osocio (social advertising and non-profit campaigns from around the globe) says:

In December, at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, world leaders will come together to discuss this issue, and Canadians want results. zig joined with Environmental Defence, ForestEthics and hundreds of volunteers to produce this film, and the web site that goes with it, to inspire grassroots action from Canadian parents.

The effects of climate change are going to be very real within the lifetime of the current generation of children, and if our kids knew the facts, they would act. On the web site, people can upload their kids photos to be included in a projection that will appear on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper¹s route to work leading up to the conference to remind him who he¹s representing in Copenhagen.

[Asshole at] AdFreak is more skeptical:

Zig’s cinematic spot for Moms Against Climate Change pits child protesters (shouldn’t they be in school?) against cops (don’t they have parking tickets to write?) to illustrate that if kids knew what was at stake, they’d take action. There’s no denying it packs a punch. That said, something feels off. I think I was expecting a boffo climax to really drive the point home. Why not have the sides embrace, each kid finding one of his or her parents among the riot squad, to symbolize that we’re all in this together? Conversely, acid rain pouring from above and “frying” every last person? That would make a strong statement! Sure, it’s easy for me to second-guess—that’s why I enjoy it so much. Still, using children is a form of hot-button emotional manipulation. And to stretch a metaphor, failing to turn up that flame delivers a lukewarm message on a globally incendiary issue.

(Moms Against Climate Change: Take Action)

File under: Future Is Now Dept.

from Wired.com

CBS Embeds a Video Playing Ad in a Print Magazine

In the latest example of finding media innovation where you’d least expect it, CBS is embedding a video player in a print ad in Entertainment Weekly that will serve up a buffet of its fall TV lineup.

The CBS foray into a print-digital alliance plays full-motion video at a crisp resolution. The ad, dubbed by CBS and partner Pepsi Max “the first-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion,” works like one of those audio greeting cards. Opening the page activates the player, which is a quarter-inch–thick screen seen through a cutaway between two pages concealing the larger circuit board underneath.

The audio quality is equally good (extremely poor video shot by this reporter notwithstanding), but beware: There are no volume controls, and in a quiet environment, it’s quite loud. This is surely a intentional design feature, aimed at getting the attention of people nearby.

Unlike the wholly unsatisfying debut of the e-ink cover in Esquire magazine last year, this works.

The video-enhancement will appear in the September issue of Entertainment Weekly, but only in what sounds like a relatively small subset of the circulation: The promo itself will be in every copy, but the video portion only in some subscriptions delivered to New York and Los Angeles. It was released Tuesday to media outlets...

Here's what it actually looks like:


read the entire WIRED story here:

Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks?

Is this just crafty advertisement for Nokia or did they just lift the footage to promote their shit? I don't know, but this is kinda incredible.



Update:
Well maybe it's all fake?
As my friend A-Dog says "It's real enough"
I'm not 100% sure
but here's another clip from the same crew apparently:

"I totally don't know what that means, But I want it..."

This Jessica Simpson commercial is from the absolute peak of capitalism. I don't know if it was that commercial i posted a few days ago or some stupid conservative rant i heard on a talk show tonight, but something reminded me of this insane commercial from 2007.

I mean the day someone said they wanted something, and they didn't know why and they advertised it, you know, just like those greedy fuckers that were running the country, that they just went too damn far. The end was bound to come soon, and i think this commercial back when it came out was the 'straw that broke the camels back'.

"Mow the Lawn"

This is one of the most insane television commercials ever.



I could almost imagine it airing in the US, but hell no. UK only.

A little ditty for down under.
A catchy tune touting the new Wilkinson Sword Quattro for Women Bikini, with a razor on one end and a waterproof bikini trimmer on the other, but certain racial stereotypes/imagery might muff... er, ruffle some feathers.

Creativity magazine, where i had a pretty cool interview last month, wrote about this and it was picked up by Boing Boing where i found it.

All i wanted was a Pepsi . . .

So i went out tonight to some gathering in a space where i am supposed to sit for an interview for 4 or 5 minutes of air-time (I should say cable or satellite time) tomorrow for Fuel TV. I rarely if ever go out at night anymore but i thought it would be a good idea to scope out the situation for the interview the next day and meet the folks i was going to have to deal with ahead of time. Fact is i knew I'd be able to get a glass of Pepsi with ice at the party, so i went out for 10 minutes.

When i was in my 20's i was practically addicted to Pepsi, then once i became vegan and more conscious of the planet, my health, and the corporate control over our bodies i eventually cut out Pepsi, for many years i'd go without any, more recently i started having them maybe a few times a year at most. Tonight i just had the craving after some crazy BBQ seitan my wife cooked for us.

On the subject of Pepsi, when i was managing Suicidal Tendencies back in 1983 as we were working on putting together that debut album (which i produced), I asked Mike after we did the demo with Spot, to change the lyric to Pepsi instead of Coke (yup, originally it was Coke), i admit i was being selfish and silly with my brand loyalty at the time, but i also convinced Mike that this way no one will mistake it for the drug cocaine, and why not go with the underdog and the whole Pepsi generation angle anyway... Well that seemed to work out pretty well for everyone involved i guess.



Here's the ST song and the video. I have a small cameo at around the 35 second mark, i'm on the left talking to the girl as Tom Araya - from Slayer- pushes Mike. (The Girl was Tom's girlfriend actually). Other notable cameos from hot skaters of that era, "Gator", Natas and Stedam.

Funny that some 25 years later (a few weeks ago) i'd get a call from an advertising agency wanting to use some old skate images of mine of Tony Alva for a new campaign they are working on, I let them know immediately that normally i would just say no out of hand, in assisting in the promotion of any corporate products, but since it was going to make good money for Tony who i know really could use it, and due to my old former brand loyalty as a teenager and twenty something, i figured maybe i'll consider... I did some research and found out that Pepsi as a corporation certainly was not as bad as Coke, they had actually done some pretty cool things. They were boycotted last year by a bunch of ultra right wingers who were mad they "gave a total of $1,000,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays", and had recently even sold off some of their uglier assets such a Burger King and some other horrible food chains. The new campaign was pretty cool and even included Bob Dylan's blessing (using a lot of old/new comparisons).
I said tell me how the image will be used, and no you can't use one of my iconic images from Fuck You Heroes for any price, but maybe another less known image from the same period, and i'll think about it. They got back to me saying any shot i think would be good they would consider, but then i found out the usage and exploitation factor of the shot... Out of sheer curiosity I asked what kind of budget they had for the photos, they said they were paying a few thousand dollars an image, I had to laugh, a major campaign in more than a dozen major cities across the US? I told them there was no way i'd do it for anything less than six figures, i thought relatively speaking this was fair (even though i had never received that much for a legal usage before - sometimes it's just fun to fuck with these advertising people - obviously i'd be giving some of the money to causes that campaign against obesity or something like that if they actually paid it). They said they had no authorization for that much and would have to ask the client, I said if you want the best you obviously have to pay for it, if it was a charity project i'd give it away, but c'mon this is one of the largest corporations on the planet, "they hired your agency, what's that cost?" (silence)... In the end, she was polite and wrote me an e-mail back after a few days, they decided to go with another image from another photographer that Tony recommended, I'm sure it was probably Wynn Miller, who was pretty much Tony's personal photographer back in 1978 and he got some great shots of Tony back then, although often a bit over produced for my taste. I sure hope he got paid better than what they told me they were offering...