And now for a completely different point of view. Previously we wrote about a story in the Hendersonville News in which a woman named Susan Hanley Lane shares her feelings regarding a racy Skechers billboard she saw when she was with her father in law as he was getting haircut. Noting the odd juxtaposition of the two figures on the billboard having simulated sex advertising-style, with the presence of her father in law and two small girls playing outside near the board, Susan makes a convincingly cogent argument that, perhaps, we've taken this sex sells thing a bit too far. Wait, what? Did we just write that?
She notes the walled garden that used to be called childhood has collapsed and has been replaced, at least for girls, by girlhood. In other words, kids aren't kids anymore but have, because of the continual presence of adult imagery, become young hotties in training. And can you blame them what with marketers selling bras to pre-teens and hypersexualizing everything else?
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 We've said this many times before but Big fuel Communications CEO Avi Savar is saying it with much greater detail. Check out his guest post on the notion social media should be approached as if it were a cocktail party.
I've been using this analogy for some time now and it seems to resonate with everyone who hears it. If you are a brand looking to connect with consumers through Social Media, think of Social Media as one giant party. Here's why:
1) Social Media is one giant party.
Let's set the stage.
Imagine the social web as one huge cocktail party. In one corner of the room, a group of moms are talking about education and parenting issues. In another corner of the room, a group of recent college grads laugh over Will Ferrell's latest movie. Everywhere you turn, different groups of people are enjoying themselves, sharing stories, discussing current events, pop culture, trends, etc. All the groups are mingling, making new "friends," and the most influential people in the room have the most "followers" hanging on their every word.
Sound familiar?
Social Media is a true reflection of society today--and what better representation of social behavior, fragmentation, hierarchy and influence than a giant party?
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In Australia it's sexist to ask your wife to clean the house. Oh wait, it's sexist everywhere because, as we all know, asking a stay-at-home mom to, well, stay at home and take care of the house is just wrong.
This My Local VIP cleaning service ad depicts a man returning from work to a house he thought would be cleaned while he was away. Well, apparently, mom was too busy with the kids and all that goes along with managing a household.
My Local VIP has received a few complaints from viewers who say the ad is sexist. Is it? Answer this question honestly. If you (male or female) returned home from work expecting the house to be clean (because you and your spouse talked about it getting cleaned in the morning before you went to work) and it was a mess, would you ask, "Honey, I thought you were going to clean the house today?" Or would you say, "Honey, you must have had a really tough day. It looks like the kids ran you ragged. why don't you go have a seat and I'll get you a glass of wine." Answer honestly.
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Here's what we have to say about that. One of AgencySpy's beloved blind items goes all journalistic and decides to check sources on someone who's been fingered an asshole by co-workers. Gee, not everyone in the workplace is a Mr. Rogers who cares ever so deeply about people's fragile feelings? What a shocker.
Come on. This is blind item crap is pointless information if there isn't at least a hint of who it's about. If you have facts, AgencySpy, share them. If you have sources, use them. I completely understand that this trash gets readers. We've been known to do the same right here. But you've removed everything of value from this piece. It's like a fart without a smell. We've worked for/with plenty of people in this industry over the years whose name could very easily be slapped on this piece.
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In the It's So Stupid It Could Only Happen in Advertising category, we have an update on GeniusRocket and 99 Designs' attempt to rename crowdsourcing. The effort to do so was launched back in May. It was stupid then and it's stupid now.
Whether a proponent crowdsourcing or not, the process already has a name and its a perfectly good one. This renaming project just reeks of late 90's high tech companies which, over and over, just made up new names for categories they wanted to own hoping they would stick. OK, so some terms did stick but renaming a category isn't something you take on lightly. And not for a stupid $1,000 prize.
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A recent article by Advertising Age's Social Media and Event Content Manager David Teicher got us thinking. And writing. Here's what we had to say after reading his thoughts on why agencies don't need separate units for social media:
Back in the day when we ran a media department, the public relations department in the agency used to come to us for information about audience research and the media consumed by the audiences in which they were interested. Because, in a certain sense, the media department is the keymaster to the research vault and all the demographic and psychographic nirvana within. Even account planners would come to media looking for insight.
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OK. We are WIDE awake this morning thanks to Primitive Shoes and import car model Justene Jaro who, bless her soul (body?), has awoken us in ways that are, well, just not fit for publication...even on Adrants. Anyway, filth out of the way, curvaceous cutie Justene Jaro is featured in a two minute promotional video for the 20-year-old Nike Air Max 90.
As if we were watching a long form beer commercial of old or some cheesy auto parts ad in the back of Hot Rod magazine, Jaro's bulbous breasts burst forth, spilling from above and below the confines of her revealing top as it struggles to contain her pendulous pulchritude. Clad only in lingerie..and sometimes ripped Daisy Dukes...Jaro frolicks about on a bed, on a couch and on a set of stairs while wearing, playing with and, yes, seductively licking a pair of Nike Air Max 90s.
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There are just way too many political and religious issues surrounding this ad from the National Republican Trust PAC which asks Americans to oppose the building of a Muslim mosque near the World Trade Center site for us to comment.
But, why not. So, here we go. Everyone has the right to practice their religion of choice. At least in this country. Just because a particular religion is associated with the bad behavior of a few who practice that religion does not make everyone who practices that religion evil. Television networks have the right to refuse any ad which falls outside their guidelines. People have the right to call foul on any network who makes such a decision.
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Up in Calgary there's a bit of a furor over a billboard campaign promoting a new condo complex. At issue is the image and copy which consists of an almost upskirt shot of a woman in a miniskirt along with the words, "Look up... Way up."
The condo complex is being developed by ProCura which just finished restoring a sufragette home currently being used as a sales office for the new condo complex. Upon completion of the condo complex, ProCura has promised to turn the home into a community center for women's groups and a museum for the Famous 5, a group of Alberta women who fought for women's rights.
So...the complaint centers upon the disconnect between the work ProCura will do for women's groups and the campaign which some have labeled offensive.
28-year-old web designer Travis Gertz doesn't like the campaign. "My wife Rachel and I just got back from eight months travelling through the United States," he says. "The first thing I see when I get home is this offensive ad; it makes you embarrassed to be a Calgarian."
Thoughts?
In what could be interpreted as a not too insignificant oxymoron, Dove, in a Craigslist ad, is seeking women with "flawless skin, no tattoos or scars" for an upcoming photoshoot July 18 in New York. According to the ad, the shoot is for a print campaign which will break in 2011.
The ad was placed by Dove Urban Casting, an entity that appears to be a division of Telecino, a Spanish media company
The ad also appears on CastingCall Search.
Dove Brand Police won't be happy with this but any ad that's written almost entirely in CAPS with every sentence ending with an exclamation point can't be taken too seriously anyway.
Click more to read the full ad.
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