On the surface, it seems like the perfect activist social media stunt. After seven-year-old comments by Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, in which he claimed the brand was only suitable for “cool, good-looking” (and thin) people, resurfaced online to great protest, filmmaker Greg Karber decided to mess with the brand.
His big idea? Attack A&F’s elitism by clothing homeless Los Angelenos in the brand:
The upside of this is that people got free clothes. There are, however, some big problems with the approach.
It’s difficult not to develop an internet crush on Kristin Henson. The pixie-ish 26-year-old from Philadelphia has made a name for herself on social media with her YouTube series, “Dirty Signs With Kristin”. In each episode, Ms. Henson teaches viewers a new obscene phrase or term — from “hey, you’re an asshole” to “twat waffle”.
The approach has proven popular online, even though the amateur quality of her signs and the crude content have made Ms. Henson some enemies in the deaf community.
The premise of this 25-second PSA is so visually simple, it could have been a print ad. But the storytelling capability of video is put to good use building anticipation:
Are you comfortable doing business with the Koch Brothers, and giving them more money for their right wing political lobbying? Do you want to buy in to Monsanto’s efforts to modify and aggressively patent the genetics of staple food crops?
Those are personal decisions in a free market economy. But to be a rational consumer, you need more information than can be found on product packaging. Since large corporations often grow by absorbing smaller brands, often you have no idea where your dollars are ending up.
Los Angeles-based programmer Ivan Pardo would like to change that with a new app, called “Buycott”.
According to Forbes:
You can scan the barcode on any product and the free app will trace its ownership all the way to its top corporate parent company, including conglomerates like Koch Industries.
Once you’ve scanned an item, Buycott will show you its corporate family tree on your phone screen. Scan a box of Splenda sweetener, for instance, and you’ll see its parent, McNeil Nutritionals, is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Even more impressively, you can join user-created campaigns to boycott business practices that violate your principles rather than single companies. One of these campaigns, Demand GMO Labeling, will scan your box of cereal and tell you if it was made by one of the 36 corporations that donated more than $150,000 to oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food.
Posted by Marc | 14-05-2013 23:00 | Category:
Health
These ads are made for the Canadian Guide Dog Association Mira. But the style is very European. Because of Erik Vervroegen, the creative director at Publicis and well-known of his work for AIDES and Amnesty International.
Of course it’s teamwork but when he is involved something melodramatic or bombastic comes up.
“Guide dogs are vital for the blind. Donate at mira.ca.”
Hard days for copywriters nowadays. Each message should be as compact as possible.
Not for The Animal Care Society, a nonprofit that saves dogs and cats from euthanasia.
Rather than using disturbing imagery, they chose to tell the uplifting true story of Betsy, a dog that was actually saved by The Animal Care Society (ACS).
Nice work! And smart that they use the same story on the ACS homepage.
We’re used to seeing sexualized approaches to breast cancer and testicular cancer. This one, for the Singapore Cancer Society, uses the famous Marilyn Monroe “upskirt” scene from the movie The Seven Year Itch to promote regular pap smears.
The science is questionable. I’m pretty sure that carnivorous animals have lots of intercourse, too, and most animal sex (with exceptions such as bonobos and their uptight primate cousins, humans) is pretty nasty, brutish and short.
This is a great new project from Martijn van Osch: Goodmornings.
The place for you to share and enjoy goodmornings with the whole world. A team of 16 people from the Netherlands made this happen. Their goal : brighten up the world.
Good morning! Bonjour! Buenos días! Guten Morgen! Bom dia! доброе утро! God morgon! Buongiorno! Dzień dobry! 早安 Günaydın!
This evening (Eastern Standard Time), Canadian Space Agency astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield will return to Earth after five months orbiting our planet in the International Space Station — eventually serving as commander of the mission. At 53, Commander Hadfield is a veteran astronaut, having been in space previously to work…
Africa For Norway was one of the highlights we wrote about last year. ‘The funniest campaign this year’ I said. Being funny was the strategy Sindre Olav Edland-Gryt explained in the recently recorded TEDx talk in Barcelona. It’s Radi-Aid vs Oh Dear. “By turning the tables the spoof video has…
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.