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Wonderful ad from Nike for Olympics. It makes you to feel the struggle and devotion to win.
Offensive, provocative, neo-nazi, scandalous, gross, sick, pathetic...
These are just some of words that stormed though the media after the New Yorker Obama cover:
It caused a lot of commotion. Cartoons are usually humorous and ironic and they should to make people think, contribute to debate, they also play a huge role in shaping the public opinion. They are often the mirror of society showing us how ridicule we can be and make us open our eyes and acknowledge it.
The New Yorker cover caused a lot of commotion in media. Why? It was taken too literally. David Remnick from The New Yorker calls the cover for satire that was meant to target distortions, misconceptions and prejudices" about Obama.
People didn't understand the message behind the cartoon and took it literary accusing The New Yorker Times for going after attention and higher readership.
Was the message too sophisticated? Was the message really too offensive. It is just not OK that we try desperately to be politically correct. We've become so straight forward in the way we are and communicate that we aren't able anymore to decode more subtle messages. Are we really no longer able to look below the surface? It seems we've forgotten what cartoons are for. How can we keep our political life and perception healthy if we can't look at it ironically any longer. Satire helped through years to fight against stupidity and backwardness. Satire tells the truth, sign away the favors and judge a man / humanity.
It made me think about cartoons published by Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten that were supposed to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship. They've created a huge controversy that led to dramatic and often violent protests. This should be the way to demonstrate the power of free speech. It caused hate and serious damage because protesters took the cartoons too literary. While the whole Western world defended the cartoons as the part of the Western culture and symbol of free speech. What is different with Obama cartoon this time? Why so serious?! I mean the debate should be covering the whole issue of Obama being accused of being raised by Islamic school - this where people should express their outrage, not on the New Yorker cover.
I liked Jon Stewart's take on this:
"You know what your response should've been? It's very easy: Barack Obama is in no way upset about the cartoon that depicts him as a Muslim extremist. Because you know who gets upset about cartoons? Muslim extremists! Of which Barack Obama is not. It's just a f*cking cartoon!"
video via Huffingtonpost
God save satire!
Interesting project by Phillip Toledano who photographed phonesex operators at their homes. Together with pictures we can read some of their thoughts on what they are doing and the world of fantasy they are creating. He enters the fascinating world of delusion where anything can happen as long as you want it to happen...in words, through words.
"There is a contract that exists between phonesex operators and the people who call. It is a contract of self-delusion. The cal l er agrees to pretend t hat he (or she) is cal l ing a young, beautiful girl, and the phonesex operator willingly plays the part. Phonesex reveals the truth. It pulls back the veil to reveal the expected, and the unexpected, all at once." says Phillip Toledano
Here is the one of stories, it is very poetic:
My holiday time in France was fantastic. It was very relaxing and it led me to miss some deadlines. Shame on me, however I think that it is positive that I can still lost myself and let things go. One of very interesting experiences during my trip was staying in a village with no advertising at all (and no internet connection - btw I've found out that you can easily survive without Internet). At first, I haven’t noticed this, after a while I was wondering what’s wrong here. There was something missing in the landscape. And finally I’ve put words on it – there was no advertising around me! I wandered through streets searching for some commercial message. There was none! I was pretty impressed by it and it made me think about the impact advertising has on people and its role in our culture.
Advertising became the part of our culture; there is nothing new in it. It is almost trivial to say it. It has its opponents and advocates. It is interesting, it is exciting and it is hard to imagine the world without it. We have faced lately the discussion about Heinz commercial that focused on stereotypes, homophobia, etc., not to mention Bob Garfield’s Open Letter to Omnicom President-CEO John Wren about his advertising agencies being politically incorrect. You could believe that are more serious problems bugging our world, not just silly advertising. How can two kissing men become such an issue that it kicks fierce debate off and takes a lot of prime time on TV? Because we take commercials seriously, as the part of culture that shapes people’s minds and attitudes. Advertising doesn’t just carry ideology, advertising is ideology itself. Advertising is contemporary ideology and myth.
You are worth it.
Myths are built of symbolic expressions, emotions and ideals that are specific for the culture. Advertising is myth itself as it is claims to dictate who the ideal beauty is, how to take care for your home and what the best nutrition is for you and your family. Advertising creates role models that fit into every day life situations from nutrition, through sex, work and education. People tend to follow those role models and replay them in their life in order to live in keeping with social and cultural norms, make their life easier and more fulfilling. Advertising is a myth that pictures the appropriate lifestyle and proper values. Further on, advertising creates a new myth – myth of human obsessed with consumption that secures happiness – clothes that symbolize success, hair coloring shampoo that makes you look younger, cereals that make you healthy and perfume that makes you more desirable and give you control.
B. Malinowski said that culture is the mechanism that satisfies human needs and desires. We all crave for health, love and safety and here comes advertising to save us with its ready-to-use solutions how to satisfy those needs. (Did advertising become important cultural tool for survival?) Persons from advertising embody our needs and desires and make them easy to satisfy. The fulfillment is a few blocks away, on the shelf of the local store. The road to our salvation goes through flicking screens and it isn’t demanding. It is convenient, the way we want it and like it.
From Chaos to Order
Advertising rules the world being the guide to successful lifestyle for some and art for others. It is the modern parable, showing us the role models and how to live. Its goal is to bring us round to that it tells the truth. Advertising myth tells about moving from chaos to order - from being overweight to being fit and hot.
Picture by bethograhy
Myth is timeless and sacralizes everyday. Every day can be sacred thanks to the advertised products. We need and crave more and more. Products and services become essential. Advertising becomes the guide through life. Advertising teaches us what reality is. The line between media and reality is vague. They melt and we can no longer tell what affects our behavior. We can’t any longer tell where media ends and reality begins. We can’t, because the passage is seamless. Media and advertising enforces the vision of world where we lose the ability to distinguish the natural needs form the artificial ones driven by advertising.
I’ve once heard that without advertising we would feel as being on the desert island. I’ve not felt like being on the desert island during my vacation but I felt awkward because I am used to advertising.
What’s my point with this summer? We can’t fight against advertising. We need to accept it and understand it. We can laugh at it, we can condemn it or we can love it but it is the background of our life and the picture of who we are, rather then whom we want to be.
Happy summer to you all.
(orginally published on TalentZoo)
Brilliant!
I've just run across this Polish ad for mobile provider Plus GSM - it is great! They've created the whole series of ads with famous comedians group, some are better than others but especially this one ad nails what it is all about. You are going to have the most fun when you understand Polish.
The lady is the need of the consumer that appears in the office of mobile provider. He calls for his colleague, lets call her the office woman:
The office woman asks her: Who are you?
I am the need of the consumer, she replies
The need of what?, asks the woman again
I am the need for the new type of deal. Deal that is shorter and not counted in years but minutes (hmm Apple and its friends in telecom world could learn something from this commercial). The more you talk the faster your deal is over and you can buy the new telephone in promotional price - explains the revelation of the need of the consumer
Woman, you have no idea about the telecommunication market! - replies outraged office woman
Great idea from the Plus GSM! I find the revelation of the consumer to be a great idea.
I am back from holidays. It was such a great time and I fell so in love with french countryside and I can't stop seeing myself on the one of vineyards in the Medoc region. *Sights*. For me traveling isn't always about visiting new places and learning new about people Normandy that opened for me the last door to the world of impressionists, Monet-like gardens and not to mention the delicious food and wine.
Holidays were wonderful except one dramatic episode when I was attacked by hungry donkey - it decided to check out what's in my bag. And it seems it didn't like my iPhone as it crushed its glass. I was kind of angry but I figured out that you can't sue donkey who happens not to suffer from shiny objects syndrome. :-) The most important is that phone is still working even though it isn't so shiny anymore. There come some serious cracks. When I got home I wanted to buy a new iPhone that was launched in DK on the 11th July and I can't primarily because it is sold out, secondary because it is bound to subscription and you can't buy it without. It made me to think seriously about my freedom to choose as a consumer. But this is a theme for another post.
Here is the culprit, this is the one on the right :-) It looks cute but this is just first impression! Beware of hungry and greedy donkeys, they go after what they want.
Meanwhile I am back in cosy Copenhagen with wooden boxes filled with vine and foie gras, so I can survive the long and dark danish fall and winter :-).
It is time to go through the vast amount of post in Google Reader. You guys weren't wasting your time.
Grant McCracken: Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture
Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Duncan J. Watts: Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition)
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi: Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means
