Results tagged “we're doomed” from Uncivil Society
To complete today's charity ad trifecta, here's a thoughtful reflection from within the advertising industry on how the business views its charitable clients. The piece is rather eye-opening: according to the author, ad agencies see charity work as "downmarket" and design charity promos more to look good for awards than to be effective. Hence the post's provocative title, "Every time we make a self serving charity ad, a gay baby kitten dies of breast cancer"--
You could argue that, even if the main effect of these ads is to win awards rather than raise money or awareness, no one is really harmed. I’d argue against that. The same agencies that make creatively awarded ads know equally well how to make effective ads. Most of the time, though, they’re not the same thing. So every time an agency pours resources into making a beautiful, moving, and hopefully awarded charity ad, they’re choosing (consciously or not) not to make an effective one instead. They’re choosing not to make an ad that raises money for the charity and saves lives, cures diseases, finds homes for kittens or whatever it is the charity exists to achieve.
In this BBC Comedy video, The Ladies Guild of Kneesley skewers recent efforts by charities to sex up their fundraising. While the tactic can work for some organizations--particularly those with sexuality-related missions--far too often it's an uneasy fit, with lame jokes and blatant objectification rationalized by a good cause.
PUTTING THE FUN IN FUNDRAISING EXTRA: This vintage trend piece from the Washington Post describes (ostensibly) wacky sexy fundraising as a trait of social entrepreneurship. Who knew? And somewhat related, this recent article from Australia notes that donating sex toys & bongs may not be the best way to support your local charitable thrift store.
Carrot Top holding a rabbit on the red carpet of a Las Vegas poker benefit--this quintessential icon of celebrity do-good culture comes from the camera of talented teen-age photographer Nick Leonard, who is using shots of scenes from his hometown to build a killer professional portfolio.
UPDATE: For more on poker & charity, check out Betting on Poker to Change the World.
The Illinois Lottery has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, from its connections to disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich to the state's controversial plan to sell the lottery to private investors. Now, for the holiday season the Illinois Lottery has launched a new ad campaign using the Christian hymn "Joy to the World" to flog its scratch-off games, a move that has led at least one Christian to complain to the Chicago Sun Times:
In Monday’s paper, columnist Lewis Lazare notes that Energy BBDO has created a series of holiday television commercials using the song “Joy to the World” to sell—of all things—lottery tickets! The new lyrics and retro music may be captivating and clever, but are the people at BBDO familiar with the original words to this Christmas hymn? Or do they care?
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”
Or is Linus the only one who still understands what Christmas is all about?
Dan McGuire, Bensenville
It's a paradigmatic case of cultural appropriation, with one community's traditions used to promote ostensibly contradictory values. And as MultiCultClassics observes, the campaign doesn't stop there--"It’s gone from blasphemy to Black clichés."
Kissing a piece of paper for charity seems to have replaced the traditional kissing booth, which would today be seen less as a fun fundraiser than a hub for spreading the flu.
If the above vintage ad's strategy of prescribing carb-filled crackers to lose weight seems goofily retro (not to mention sexist), check out this new research on carbs as the dietary key to personal happiness.
This would-be viral video for American Diabetes Month joins the ranks of sex-themed do-gooder PR. Meanwhile, the cutting-edge in the commercial realm has moved on to cute animals, a well-worn trope in charity for decades. All ad life's a circle . . .
Personally, I think that showing your organic skivvies to a co-worker is a sure-fire way to score a sexual harassment lawsuit, but this ad from PACT depicts a sexually charged workplace and organic fashion as going hand in hand.
In the immortal words of Dorothy Parker, Tonstant Weader twowed up.
The United Nations today named the Disney animated character Tinker Bell an “Honorary Ambassador of Green” to help promote environmental awareness among children.
The announcement came just prior to a screening at UN Headquarters in New York of the world premiere of the Walt Disney animated film, “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure.”
“We're delighted Tinker Bell has agreed to be our Honorary Ambassador of Green,” said Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. “This beloved animated character can help us inspire kids and their parents to nurture nature and do what they can to take care of the environment.”
Via Jezebel, a sign that environmentalism has become too trendy for its own good: a new line of eco-sexy costumes. From the ad copy:
This costume is perfect for the eco friendly consumer. Help spread the eco friendly message! Go Green Girl - includes green pleated mini dress featuring recycling badge, white lace and ribbon embellishments, and GO GREEN! Screen print on the butt removable Recyclers Do It Twice pin and earth bag. Costume is packaged in recyclable paper bag. Please note does not include stockings or shoes. This eco-friendly costume is Available in Adult Sizes X-Small, Small, Medium, and Large.
Made of 100% Organic Cotton.
We are doomed.
Tonight's the premier of NBC's The Philanthropist. Longtime readers of this site know how I react to do-gooder shots such as the one above--my mind whirls back through the 1960s into the late nineteenth century like some an imperialist version of Time Tunnel, swarming with images of white people bringing civilization and Pampers to the uncivilized primitives who desperately look to us to raise them from the depths of their corruption and incompetence.
Sure, as the New York Times reports the show reportedly includes the obligatory scene where The Philanthropist is chided for
playing the role of the charming rich businessman who travels the world, getting his hands just dirty enough to go back home and tell his American friends how meaningful his life is compared to theirs.
But that's an old rhetorical ruse, at once allowing viewers to assure themselves that they are not That Guy while reinforcing the more systemic problem. See, the show tells us, you're not just a dilettante. You really are leading them out of darkness, you really are their savior--in short, you are the master on whom they depend.
It's empire. It's racial supremacy. And it's something we should not indulge.
I know the show hasn't aired yet, but you could write enough to get tenure at Duke based on just the scenes described in the reviews and the obligatory white-guy-gives-hope-to-black-children photos released to promote the show.
Unless, of course, the scene depicted in the above PR photo ends with The Philanthropist blown up by an old British landmine.
Iranians have reportedly starting protesting the Ahmadinejad regime by going to bazaars and not shopping.
However, that doesn't mean the rest of the revolution is noncommercial.
One popular item: t-shirts featuring Neda Agha-Soltan, the Iranian woman whose murder by Iranian security forces, caught on this YouTube video (more about which here), has made her an icon of the protest movement.
Pictured above: a Neda t-shirt sold on Facebook by an Iranian who pledges to give the proceeds to Neda's family if 400 shirts are sold, though judging from the comments not everyone is on board with this enterprise:
The CafePress blog has also noted Neda tee phenomenon, highlighting a link between commerce and political speech:
While the Iranian government prohibits Neda’s family and friends from having memorials in her honor and tries to locally silence the voices mourning her, the world is talking. And from our end, a T-shirt is worth 1,000 words.
In other words, let a thousand Neda t-shirts bloom!
And yes, the last one really is a "Remembering Neda (Iran) Dog T-Shirt." The photo proclaims "Made in the USA", and y'know, I don't doubt it.
UPDATE:
Here's the PrestijFashion shirt mentioned in the comments!
I regularly advise students and social entrepreneurs to think about trademark in relation to their ventures, and here's a good example why: Microsoft has just announced the formation of the Social Enterprise Alliance.
No, not that Social Enterprise Alliance, the organization that brings together social entrepreneurs. Microsoft's new Social Enterprise Alliance is a social networking "partnership centered on the customization and integration of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007."
A search of the U.S. trademark database indicates that "social enterprise alliance" isn't registered yet to anyone, though SEA could try to assert common law trademark rights if it wanted to try to get Microsoft not to use the name.
Of course, SEA may be OK with another SEA roaming around, but if Microsoft successfully registers the mark things could eventually interesting. My personal favorite example in this regard is the original Burger King, which got a state trademark for its restaurant but failed to consider federal trademark until after the national Burger King chain had registered it. A judge carved out a 20-mile bubble for the original to operate free from competition from the federally trademarked Burger King, but the original cannot go to scale under its own name.
Microsoft's social enterprise announcements got me thinking about social enterprise & trademark more generally, and a federal trademark search reveals another interesting development: Live Elements, a Virginia technology firm, has recently filed to register "social enterprise" as a proprietary mark for its own online networking platform.
In a world without sexual harassment law, Auctioning Charity uses a charity auction as the launching point for reflection on the tension between commerce and human dignity--well, that and the fulfillment of a boss's fantasy to dominate Charity, his female VP. An excerpt:
“It’s about the executive auction,” she said. . . .
“The image of the female on the auction block,” she said now, evidently deciding on the direct approach, “is rather repugnant, don’t you think?”
He narrowed his gaze. “As opposed to a male being sold?”
Her full lips formed into a pouty, irritated frown. Oh, how he would like to explore the full range of her emotions, putting her under absolute control, manipulating her pleasure and her pain, her agony and ecstasy, for endless hours.
To begin, he would like to take her in his arms and overpower her with a kiss, reducing all her arguments to a single, panting, breathing motion, only one word left in her vocabulary—Yes.
Correction—two. Yes, Master.
“You know what I mean, Roger. There are a preponderance of images and cultural metaphors surrounding the exploitation of the female body.”
Roger snorted. “Good heavens, woman, it’s a charity dinner. I have no intention of selling you into white slavery.”
No, he just intends to buy her.
Sad to say, I've met executives just like Roger.
Blah.
Via Copyranter, a classic example of a sexist ad promoting the interests of a trade association. Don't want to be turned down? Be like rice, which "never intrudes. Never gets in the way."
Also worth checking out for folks interested in sexist ads, this blog dedicated to sexist marketing--and, of course, Sarah Haskins' Target Women.
Below: UK candy bar Yorkie--"IT'S NOT FOR GIRLS!"
Via Journalista & Scans Daily, a tender tale of a girl who fears that her family and friends may be causing global warming through their air conditioners--until they explain that air conditioners actually keep Earth's air cool!
The social enterprise community has celebrated the power of The Girl Effect, a video that uses Flash typography to make a simplistic yet appealing claim for helping girls become economically independent.
Below: a viral conservative Christian video uses a similar rhetorical technique to different ends:
Are ANIMATED BOLD ALL CAPS really an effective means of persuasion, or do they merely reinforce pre-existing values?
A town sign provides a classic example of how numbers can add up to nothing.
Just doing my part to make sure we don't take ourselves too seriously.
Though of course, I'm prepared to be reminded that <grim>sustainable animal waste disposal is no laughing matter.</grim>
