<img border="0" src="http://www.stillad.com/wp-content/themes/Black-N-White/images/logo.gif" alt="StillAd">

Becks: Plasticine for a new world order

backsflowers

becksdance2

Does anyone ever feel a tad sorry for the children? Not only are we handing them a globalised, crisis-ed, capitalised, climatised world, but we pressure them into being the ‘future’ and our ‘hope’ and basically say, yes, you. Fix our mistakes.

I think that Vampire Weekend might have had a better idea when they said “The kids don’t stand a chance.” (Great song too, just by the way).

But I think I would rather be optimistic. Because, in spite of all the efforts to make the world a better place, nobody seems to be succeeding. Lately, my money has been on the new President, and while I think he has a better shot than most, I mean, he’s not a miracle worker.

But children. Children have all of the greatness that we used to have, the potential for wonderful and amazing things. They have the ability to instantly forgive, and to forget petty differences. They look past skin colours, and accents, and socio-economic status.

True, we were all there once. And now, we know better. But I’m hoping that the lesson learned is to help the children hold on to it. To hold on to a time that was good, and true, and pure, where arguments didn’t escalate into global conflicts, and we got that everyone else needed their space.

I think this ad captures that perfectly. Not only does it boil down some of history’s most painful images into entertainment putty, but it serves as a potent reminder that some of these historic arguments are simply this: child’s play, idiot leaders, and immature reactions. The colours are engaging, the ideas hilarious – who wouldn’t want to see a Palestinian and Israeli just Saturday Night Fever it out?

You could go all politically correct on it, and claim that a bunch of flowers couldn’t make up for what the KKK did to African Americans. Or you could just remember that it is in the past, that (most) have moved on, and in fact, half the Republicans are ex-KKK members who have denounced their former allegiances.

So in the spirit of moving on – I know that the whole ‘children should be seen and not heard’ philosophy is generally toast. But we’ve also forgotten the Romantics, people like Blake and Wordsworth, who exalted the child, wanted people to learn from the child. Children were hailed as the only unspoiled beings on the earth.

In times of chaos and crisis, it seems that we’re all looking upwards, asking our leaders for the answers. The other direction might not produce final results, but for some reason, the kids give me hope.

Advertising Agency: Scholz+Friends Hamburg, Germany
Chief Creative Officer: Matthias Schmidt
Executive Creative Director: Stefan Setzkorn
Creative Directors: Gunnar Loeser, Stefanie Voelzow, Markus Daubenbuechel
Art Director / Copywriter: Philipp Cerny
Photographer: Bernd Westphal
Creative: Marius Koopmann
Modeler: Anna Gawrilow

Rate this Ad

Loading ...

Getty Images

getty1

getty2

getty3

getty4

Wow. Ok. So I’m a little taken aback – I’d be very, very surprised, if, um, certain versions of these ads every made it to the streets of India. To think that I was a little concerned about European denim advertising!

I’ll take a stab at it, all the same.

Tom Stoppard once said, in his post-existentialist Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, “We are tied down to a language that makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.” I know that this isn’t the point of the Getty Images ads; but they make it all the same.

Our words have countless meanings, that too often they don’t make sense or are misunderstood in print. Only sound, accents, emphasis can make our language mean, well, anything.

Simple terms refer to a multitude of things – case in point: bush, pot, crack and blow. Although why they could go explicit for pot and bush, but not blow, is beyond me. And as some interesting commentators mentioned, they could have gone further with the ‘blow’ concept (Monica Lewinsky was suggested). I was also informed that the alleged ‘crack’ in the image is actually ‘blow,’ confusing the concept further. I wouldn’t know; I’m no expert!

All the same, I think these are effective. I’m not sure how the ex-President feels about his face being in such close proximity to certain feminine body parts, but I’m sure if he cares, we’ll all hear about it.

I suppose the Bush-bashing advertising has been going on long enough for him to stop caring. But honestly, even I was shocked to see these. And there was no need for them to be controversial – I mean, its Getty Images. What are they trying to say?

Besides the fact that their ‘search’ function must be quite useless…

Advertising Agency: Rediffusion Y&R, Mumbai, India
Creative Directors: Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, Ramanuj Shastry, Rahul Mathew
Art Director: Meghana Ogale
Copywriter: Karan Amin
Account Director: Trayambak Dasgupta
Published: December 2008

Rate this Ad

Loading ...

Levis: Unbuttoned

levisbabysitter

levislatte levispierced

Denim advertising has always felt the need to push boundaries, often crossing controversial categories and heading into banned and offensive. The most popular were the Dolce & Gabbana ads whose men were, er, unshaved, and had serious low-riders on.

There was also the Tom Ford for Gucci era, where G’s were shaved into, er, interesting, areas. Calvin Klein has consistently blurred the boundaries between sexy advertising and porn, and the denim brands who refuse to give into the raunch are often left behind.

Having said that, Levis is more an ‘all-American’ brand, and probably couldn’t get away with the risqué attitudes of the Europeans (I mean, YSL showed full frontal male nudity in a cologne campaign!)

This is a great alternative: it has a naughty feel, but it’s still PG13 and funny as hell. I don’t mind that the grown woman wanting the ‘boy’ barista or the guy lusting after his babysitter is a tad wrong; compared to normal denim advertising, it’s positively wholesome. I love the varied writing and different settings – although I can’t help but notice, I’m not really a fan of the jeans! (Especially with the matching denim shirt or jacket – can you say ick!?) But to each their own I suppose.

I can imagine this ad provoking all sorts of fun questions – after all, who do you want to unbutton?

Advertising Agency: BBH Singapore
Executive Creative Director: Steve Elrick
Creative Director / Copywriter: Todd Waldron
Photographer: Mark Seliger
Art Directors: Hoon Pin Kek, Scott McClelland
Copywriter: Douglas Hamilton
Agency Producers: Rebecca So, Michelle Tan
Account Planner: Gwen Raillard
Print Production: Asmanic Yang
Account Team: Frances Great, Eugenie Yeo, Lesley-Anne John

Rate this Ad

Loading ...

Racco: Clock

ciclosclock

Time is one of those things that is completely out of our control. Other natural forces can be avoided or altered: think the climate, or even just staying inside on a rainy day. But time continues to wield it’s power, regardless of how many people want it to stop. This is as relevant for ageing beauties seeking reversal creams, as it is to stories – Harry Potter taught kids about the potentially awesome but potentially dangerous trick of the ‘Time Turner’.

Time machines and time travel have occupied much of the fantasy genre for years. The recent phenomenon of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ was no different (except, to the book of the same title, where the literary Button was nowhere near as attractive as Brad Pitt, and actually not that nice a guy).

This ad is playing on our obsession with time nicely, (although I suspect our fascination is to do with our lack of control) but I have a few little gripes. The copy is a tad clichéd, and doesn’t really say a whole lot. Furthermore, the pictured clock is continuing the current trend of antique-style timepieces, using Roman Numerals and all. But someone needs to remind these manufacturers that the Romans actually wrote the number four IV, not IIII.

It doesn’t do much to inspire confidence in this time-changer! After all, watches and clocks need to be the most reliable things in our society – our obsession with time has made it so. If we can’t rely on our anti-agers, our inner control freaks may need to rely on fantasy to avoid the effects of time. Then again, if we really believe we can turn the clock back, I’m not sure we ever left fantasy.

Advertising Agency: ByVivas Curitiba, Brazil
Executive Creative Director: Marcos René Steffens
Art Director: R Guth
Copywriter: L Destri
Via: Bestadsontv

Rate this Ad

Loading ...

Association Ban Public: Prison Sponsorship

banpublic

Prisoners are people too, you know. Actually, I didn’t. Well, popular culture surely has a way of putting them in jail and we never see them again. In television shows, the character that they want to get rid of (because a) the actor quit; b) the character had served its momentary purpose) either gets killed off, or, sent to jail. Because, evidently, nobody ever comes back.

It’s strange that people associate prison with life sentences. The truth is, life sentences are the exception, not even close to the norm. And people go to prison for relatively minor criminal acts, or at least, socially acceptable ones, such as having a little too much to drink , or lying to social security.

And yet, the result of a prison sentence is a stigma that one can never lose. A criminal conviction automatically removes you from the running for most skilled work, in this country at least. More and more countries are focussing on more rehabilitative forms of justice, with prisoner support groups, employment assistance, and in certain cases, providing alternatives to incarceration.

The use of Drug Courts in the United States and Australia is a potent example: where drug offenders are given the opportunity to attend rehab and be re-integrated into society, without the punitive measures of a gaol sentence.

The art direction in this is impeccable; it draws attention to the issue without succumbing to the cliché of an unhealthy, grimy prisoner. It has an air of sadness, but so much possibility. The finer details are painful: the scrawled offensive language on the walls, the drips of blood from tattoos that bind. The drawn-on noose is the final straw.

I never thought that I would be supporting a sponsorship service for ex-convicts. But after all, without them, Australia wouldn’t be the home it is today. And who are we to say that everyone doesn’t deserve a second chance?

Advertising Agency: TBWA\MAP, Boulogne Billancourt, France

Rate this Ad

Loading ...