Once the thought of a lawyer advertising services was taboo. While those that do advertise haven't stepped far from their perception as ambulance chasers, mortuaries are set to be the new awkward/cheesy trend in advertising. Denver's Fairmont Cemetery & Mortuary has launched a billboard and print campaign painting death in a less morbid light.
With headlines like "Walked on all seven continents" and "Put six kids through college" along with the tagline, "Celebrating lives well lived," the ads feature smiley, we had a great life type images.
Fairmont hopes to encourage funeral planning as well as cater to the wims of a generation who wants to make a party, rather than a sob-fest, out of a funeral.
On the heels of Harvard University publishing its sex-laden H Bomb student magazine, a group of Boston University students are set to launch Boink, a magazine that will feature nude pictorials of students, columns on sex, sex toy reviews and polls. Launching in January with 96 pages, the magazine is not endorsed by the University nor will it receive money from the University as Harvard's H Bomb did.
Boink Co-Founder and Editor in Chief Alecia Oleyourryk says there is a need for the publication. "Sadly, there are few formal forums for people our age to share their sexual experiences and to learn from others who are on the same journey. Boink was created to fill that need." She went on to describe the focus of the magazine. "We will be talking about some serious topics like pregnancy, STDs, abuse and date rape. We plan to cover any and all sex-related issues that are relevant to college students - male, female, straight, gay or bi."
Local artist and co-collaborator on the magazine Christopher Anderson, who also helped launch Harvard's H Bomb, wants to take blankets off people's hang ups about sex. "My primary interest in advancing this whole idea is that there is nothing shameful about nudity and sexuality. The City of Boston has these almost puritanical roots, where anything related to nudity or sex becomes very taboo." Anderson is 38.
Either he's truly an artist or he's got the greatest scam going.
While this is all very liberal and forward thinking, one would assume there's still going to be something a bit awkward about sitting next to a student in class whom you just saw naked in the magazine the day before.
In a new book, author Juliet Schor says kids are gravely harmed by television and in-school advertising in what she calls "the corporate takeover of childhood." Schor claims "the more kids are exposed to consumer culture the more likely they are to become depressed, suffer from anxiety or experience low self esteem. She goes on to accuse marketers of the double whammy - dual messaging to kids and parents for the same product. She also found, through interviews, that marketers do not disagree with Schor's assessment. They feel somewhat guilty for the tactics they use but are seemingly stuck in the machine that forces them to continue lest they lose their jobs.
