Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
up in smoke.
in my lifetime, it's been a relentless assault against smoking. campaign after campaign touted tobacco's ills on personal health and the social fabric of the united states. though i escaped the scapegoating attack on joe camel and the utter collapse of the marlboro man, i've witnessed the appropriate vilification of the tobacco industry. i'm talking lawsuits, movies, lobbying efforts, spoofs on family guy, the truth campaign and movements to reduce hollywood's glamorous use of smoking. at least, that's what the pundits say. i've been privy to smoking bans in new york, and i watch with baited breath to see if virginia follows others' lead. will old tobacco be so bold? though it is nice to go out to a club and not come home spewing in smoke.
but it's all made me wonder, as i scan this article about the new iteration of the truth campaign, what does it mean to be a smoker today? what are the generational divides? the motivations to do it? is it a rite of passage for underage rebels? it is parental rebellion? or does it have any parallels to the good old days when tobacco sponsored radio and television content? what are the barriers, the emotions and the stigmas surrounding today's smokers? and does anyone care anymore?
hmm. there may be a thesis topic in there somewhere. but, until then, here's an article:
| New Anti-Smoking Ads Turn Marketing On Its Ear |
| by Karl Greenberg, Monday, Jan 21, 2008 5:00 AM ET |
| THE AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION (ALF), an anti-smoking fund funded by tobacco companies following a late-1990s settlement agreement, is launching a new campaign in its eight-year-old "Truth" campaign aimed at keeping kids away from cigarettes. The effort, launching this week, comprises TV ads, an Interactive campaign and a summer tour. It is also the last "Truth" campaign in which both Arnold Worldwide and Crispin Porter + Bogusky (the latter is departing the campaign) participated. The campaign aims to alert teens and twenty-somethings to the dangers of smoking without sounding like their parents. The new push, "The Sunny Side of Truth," is a tongue-in-cheek effort that matches Broadway-style music and lyrics in ads--some of which are animated--with a satirical spotlight on marketing practices by tobacco companies. Actually, the musical-theater tone is not happenstance: the music is by David Yazbek, who wrote Broadway shows "The Full Monty" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." The five TV spots initially follow a motif that "Truth" has used in documentary-style ads in the past, with young people gathering in places like the edifice of a tobacco-industry headquarters. But suddenly the group breaks into song and dance when they realize the "sunny side" of smoking and Big Tobacco tactics. In one, teenagers in front of a tobacco company HQ are unrolling a banner with "Tobacco-Related Deaths" written on it. One says: "Wait until we show tobacco executives the 5 million people around the world who died from their products last year." Another responds that he's being, perhaps, a bit negative, suggesting that the 5 million statistic is actually a typo. Then, animated typewriters and accessories accompany the teens in a song and dance about how the statistics are the result of a clerical error. In another spot, teen protesters are setting traps in a NYC park using cigarette packs as bait to demonstrate how Big Tobacco has manipulated levels of nicotine in cigarettes to keep people addicted, but not enough to make them sick. As he speaks to passersby through a megaphone, suddenly a unicorn and other fantastical creatures appear to launch into a musical number about "the magical amount," which explains in saccharine tones why it is so wonderful that the tobacco companies are so precisely regulating nicotine dosage. The TV elements will be supported by an interactive campaign comprising a Web site and a campaign on social-networking Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi-5 and Xanga. There will be Web-based games, like one modeled on "Guitar Hero," called "Key-Tar Slayer," where participants can jam to the music in the TV ads." Another element called "The Useful Cigarette" shows how ingredients in cigarettes and cigarette smoke are found in things like toilet bowl cleaner, nail polish remover and rocket fuel. Patricia McLaughlin, senior spokesperson at the ALF, says the music theme is central to the effort. "We are trying to use music as an asset across media." She says the campaign also marks the first time that ALF has used animation in ads. "It's designed to be over the top." She says the TV spots will air on cable channels like MTV, VH1, Fuse, and ABC family. She adds that the effort will include advertising in cinemas in April and September. The ads will be in 2,065 Screenvision theatres nationwide. The effort will also include a summer grassroots tour. The Truth Truck will have music-themed events at such venues as the Vans Warped Tour. |
Sunday, January 20, 2008
photo launch.
i won't post them all here, but you can follow my attempt to be a photographer here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/callmeroo/
oil!
Friday, January 18, 2008
at shutter speed.
one might impress me with its skills. others, the sleek design. if it's tiny, it wins cute bonus points. and nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than something red. wow, that's a way to win my heart. sure, i've looked around on the internet. i even interviewed friends who already found their camera mate. you think i would have taken good notes. or jotted a useful fact. nope. why? because i know me. i'll wander around that store, and i'll wait. i'll wait for something to jump out at me, screaming that it's the one. i'll place it in my hands, hold it, play with it's buttons. i'll check myself out in the mirror. let's face it, the camera has to compliment my style.
and no matter what a camera pimp tries to do, the chemistry between me and the metal will decide the victor. unlike some friends, i won't name this device. we're not that close. but this will be one of the more important relationships of my life. i will take it on trips. it will spend time with some of my closest friends and family. it will capture the moments i'll relish to relive. or scratch my head in defeat, asking "what was i thinking?" we'll head to different states, bars, countries, altitudes. we'll witness impeccable beauty and human disgust. we'll document everything we see.
gee, this sounds like i'm getting married. maybe i need counseling.
threading a revolution.
The New York Times
January 18, 2008
Advertising
Politics Wrapped in a Clothing Ad
By LOUISE STORY
IT is not often that a clothing advertisement includes the words “apartheid” and “purgatory” along with a quote from President Bush, but American Apparel has always been different from other consumer brand companies.
The clothing company, known for its tight-fitting jersey T-shirts and brazen attitude, regularly runs advertisements showing scantily clad young people, photographed by the company’s founder and chief executive, Dov Charney, that some critics say border on the pornographic.
In a new series of ads, American Apparel is moving in a political direction. The cause is immigration reform, and the ads say in part that the status quo “amounts to an apartheid system” and should be overhauled to create a legal path for undocumented workers to gain citizenship in the United States.
•
The black-and-white quarter-page advertisements show American Apparel employees of Guatemalan origin — fully clothed. The ads have run in newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times over the last month. Like the company’s usual sexually charged ads for T-shirts and leggings, the political ad bears the imprint of Mr. Charney, himself an immigrant from Canada.
“These people don’t have freedom of mobility, they’re living in the shadows,” he said in an interview. “This is at the core of my company, at the core of my soul.”
Most advertisers try to steer miles away from controversy, particularly avoiding political issues that are as divisive as immigration. Benetton and Nike have run ads about social causes, and scores of companies today are addressing environmental change in their ads. But, advertising executives said, those issues were not the lighting rod that immigration tends to be.
“This is an issue that elections are being decided on,” said Greg Stern, chief executive of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, an advertising agency. “But, of course, they’re a very radical company.”
The company is used to publicity, some of it unwelcome. Mr. Charney has been sued on accusations of sexual harassment by several employees, who said he had created an uncomfortable work environment. The company denies the accusations and is fighting a case in Los Angeles, where the company designs and manufactures all of its clothing.
The ads have already generated attention for American Apparel, and the company has received letters of support, Mr. Charney said. Other large companies privately lobby the government over various policies, but he said he would rather be open about his position.
“Let me be clear who makes our clothes. It is a collaboration between American-born people and non-American-born people,” he said. “I don’t think supporting immigration reflects negatively on my brand, and in fact, it makes it look like we’re a responsible business.”
American Apparel, which operates the largest garment factory in the United States, has long advocated fair treatment of workers and in the past has run ads in local publications about immigration. American Apparel went public in December, and Mr. Charney said that has allowed him to take the company’s advocacy to national outlets. He said he planned to continue to try to spark debate on the topic.
Some immigration experts criticized the advertisement and said it amounted to an admission that American Apparel uses illegal immigrants.
“It is self-serving propaganda to perpetuate cheap labor policies that are in violation of American law,” said Vernon M. Briggs Jr., a professor emeritus at Cornell who specializes in immigration policy. “This is not ‘apartheid.’ This is simply law-breaking. ‘Apartheid’ is an emotional term that is designed to inflame the issue.”
•
Mr. Charney said the company was careful to make sure that its workers presented the necessary documentation for employment.
Alicia Schmidt Camacho, an associate professor of American studies at Yale, called the advertisement “brave” and said she largely supported its statements.
“What I think is startling is that this is a partisan advertising campaign that advocates for workers and is not advocating for the consumer,” Ms. Schmidt Camacho said. “It’s an appeal that is based on their brand and identification with particular values.”
Mr. Charney said American Apparel’s customers appreciate the company’s views on immigration. He said his customers were “borderless.” He named the company American Apparel, rather than “USA Apparel,” he said, on purpose.
“I think my Latino workers are American workers,” he said. “They’re from the Americas. We’re all here together.”
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
what do you know.
it's 2008. and what we know will be nothing like what we knew. or thought we knew. boyko showed us this today as he heralded the same idea. times are changing. and you can change with it. be changed by it. or be shortchanged out of it. you decide.
