Posts from — May 2008

So I got what I hope was the final response from that woman at Beam Global. I refused to communicate by any method by email, and she was set on me calling her, so… there shall be no communication. In her last email to me she sent me their marketing code of practice. This pdf discussed their high standards and their commitment to responsible advertising.

Oh yes, they have very high standards. Here is an example of their high standards, which was linked to me by Audra Williams:

On Friday, Canadian Club Whisky will host a spoof protest outside Toronto showings of Sex and the City to “protest the rise of the pink, girlie cocktail and the demise of the masculine cocktail.”

The campaigns will probably be ignored by those who attend the movie this week, an audience that is expected to be almost exclusively women.

Sigh. Apparently, it’s responsible marketing to pay men to jeer at women going to see a movie so that they won’t buy your product.

Also, I’ve received several new ads for the campaign, including three very bleak ones that I’ve added to the original entry. It’s amazing how this project has evolved. I had this idea that it would mostly focus on female musicians, but it’s really evolved into something else entirely.

Based on a suggestion I received from one of the commenters and from discussions (insane rants) I’ve been having with Stark, we are thinking of starting a feminist ad busting blog. Basically, it would be a collaborative project where people could rework any ads they found offensive and send them in to be posted. It would keep the protest focused on current campaigns, and it would be a great way for lots of people to participate and stay informed. Are there any ad campaigns you’ve found to be particularly offensive lately? Any that you would like to satirize and share with the world? Ideas, people. Don’t force me to go out and buy a copy of Maxim to find these things myself. I shudder at the thought. Also, what should this blog be called? The name is crucial, of course.

I just finished reading Ladies and Gentlemen: The Bronx is Burning by Johnathan Mahler. I was definitely disappointed by this book. I had been looking forward to reading it after seeing pieces of the miniseries on ESPN while roadtripping across the country with my friend Gen. I am not a big baseball fan, but even I found the portions of the series that we caught in our hotel rooms to be gripping entertainment. The splicing together of the Yankees 1977 pennant run with the Son of Sam killings, the blackout, and the bankruptcy of the city was a great concept. ESPN’s use of fantastic stock footage helped bolster the story even more. I find it really sad to say “This book wasn’t as good as a made-for-TV-movie on ESPN,” but that’s exactly what I find myself compelled to utter.
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It always amazes me how far and wide things can spread across the Internet in a small amount of time. I’ve been trying to track the progress of my project through pingbacks and comments, although sometimes it’s not entirely clear how people have found me. Certainly nothing I’ve ever written has garnered as much interest before.

This is how it’s gone so far:

1. After I posted the initial entry there were some responses from the Livejournal community, where the project was also posted, and by fandom related people who probably saw the ad campaign on Trancer‘s journal. This got the attention of Rebecca Tushnet , which got the attention of Laura Quilter at Derivative Work.

2. After the post was up, I decided to go looking for other critiques of the Canadian Club ad campaign. I found one on Shameless Magazine‘s blog, which I commented on with a link back to my project. Shameless, in turn, posted an entry on the faux ad campaign. This drew the attention of Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious, who asked if she could reprint my post.

3. My post then appeared at Racialicious, prompting two new ads. “Your Asian Wasn’t Quiet” was first posted at Resist Racism and then again at Racialicious.

4. This got the attention of a lot of people, including the f-word all the way in the UK. Awesome! Between Racialicious and The F-Word, the project has spread even further, getting mentions at Faux Real, Mental Hygiene, and Noli Irritare Leones, as well as suggestions for new ad campaigns from a number of people who find Photoshop confusing (who doesn’t?).

5. Finally, and most importantly, today I got an email from a woman at Beam Global, the company that owns Canadian Club. She wants to talk to me about the fake ads. This could be either really good or really, really bad. That’s to be determined I guess. Until I hear back from her I shall nervously eat leftover Thai food and squeak a lot.

Do you know what works better than renting movies that were critically acclaimed and nominated for Oscars? Picking movies with funny covers and/or Phillip Seymour Hoffman. This last batch of movies was far more satisfactory than that last bunch of allegedly “great” films. Hooray!

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