McDonald's is out with a new ad in France which portrays a boy who turns out to be gay having lunch with his father in a McDonald's restaurant. It's harmless enough. Though, of course, dad doesn't really know about his son's sexual preferences.
Without siding with a side...if there really are any sides at all here regarding sexual preference orientation (my apologies for using the wrong word. I just couldn't think of the proper "sexual orientation" phrase at the time of writing), McDonald's does a nice job playing it straight as it were. Boy is gay. Dad doesn't know. Everything's fine. Something in here with which everyone can identify.
You can view the ad here or below. And, as AdFreak astutely points out, the the ad has English subtitles so as to reach an American market without all the outcry it would, no doubt, incur if it were to air on television.
more »
You have got to be kidding. This has to be a joke, right? GeniusRocket, Victors and Spoils (Oops. What GeniusRockey hoped for didin't actually happen) and 99 Design are...wait for it...crowdsourcing a new name for crowdsourcing.
Seriously?
This is going overboard like a passenger jumping off the backside of the Titanic. And getting whacked by the propeller on the way down.
Apparently, $1,000 is up for grabs to anyone willing to be publicly chastise for whatever inane new name comes from this idiocy.
But just for fun, we'll give it a go: Lamevertising, MobMarketing, Franchisevertising, SwarmTeaming, HerdHocking, SocialSwarming, IdioIdiation, FlockFlacking, Social Marketing, SocialSeeding, SocialSourcing, Distributed Marketing, Collaborative Marketing or I'm So Fucking Lazy I Have to Ask Other People to Do My Job...vertising.
So a new CMO took a gig at a brand and promptly proceeded to fire the agency his predecessor had hired. And the head of the jilted agency is upset? oh please. Get over it. This has been business as usual since companies stopped giving a shit about employees and work became a game of every man for himself.
There is no dedication any more. No employee loyalty. No corporate promises to employees. No pension plans. And no love lost when the door hits you on the ass after hearing, "your position is no longer available" or some other line of bullshit.
No. It's an all out war for personal survival. Everyone will now do anything to avoid being downsized and everything to insure they succeed and prosper. So it is without surprise GM VP of U.S. Marketing Joel Ewanick fired Publicis and handed creative duties for Chevrolet to Goodby Silverstein & Partners, an agency Ewanick has worked with before.
more »
OK. So let's get this straight. Maybe we're in a bad mood or something but what's up with the outpouring of love for Nike's new "epic" three minute commercial featuring a who's who of world famous soccer players? Oh it's well shot and meticulously produced (maybe even epically so) but it's as if Nike wants us to believe wins and losses effect the very fiber and economic health of a nation.
more »
It seems a crowd of people on Twitter have a stick up their...oh wait....that got us in trouble a while back. Anyway. A few days ago it seems everyone was up in arms over Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett DMing all his followers about his new book. Some have labeled it spam. We say everyone needs to relax and pull the stick out of their...oops...can't go there. Some cause group will be up our...oops...can't go there either.
So here's the deal. Hazlett can't DM anyone unless they're following him. If people follow someone, they have an interest in what they person has to say. By default, it's assumed they'd be interested in a book written by that person. It's the same thing as opting into an email newsletter. No one dubs that spam.
more »
The social graph. Data portability. Privacy. Data control. These are the pressing issues marketers face (or should be) when it comes to social media and how everyone (publishers, advertisers and users) can play nice together and all win. Peerset CTO and Co-founder Amit Kanigsberg has a few things to share on this topic.
Time to lose the training wheels
First off, I'll state that I'm not getting onto the "let's tear down Facebook bandwagon." I have a tempered attitude towards the changing social networking landscape - as much as I do enjoy a well-placed tirade. There are a lot of people predicting Facebook's demise, but the fact is there are a lot of smart parties at the table with an interest in not imploding. I'd rather talk about more fundamental forces, largely external to Facebook that will contribute to shifts, particularly as it relates to privacy, data and ad relevancy.
In short, I believe that social networking sites have acted as the training wheels for our online social aptitude. They have allowed us to discover and explore the potential for social networking, while developing the foundation for a broader and truly distributed online experience. We're about ready to take off the training wheels.
more »
This is a guest post by Big Fuel Communications CEO Avi Savar. If you've every wanted to know anything about mommy bloggers and what brands are doing in this space then this article id for you.
Authentic Connections
Did Mom invent social media? Some say she did. And there is no arguing that she is driving it and helping it to evolve. There are 82 million moms across the U.S. of all ages. That's right, 82 million. And 26 million of them are mommy bloggers. And they are grassroots, Oprah-like brand advocates with loyal followers who can change the trajectory of a brand and its products.
more »
Over at I Mean...What?!? Abe Gurko makes an insightful observation into the hypocrisy which, seemingly, runs wild in today's society. Gurko argues, "You cannot walk around trashing Miley Cyrus for doing a lap dance with an old queen like Adam Shankman and consider the new Miss USA marketing campaign a good idea."
Of the campaign, Gurko writes, "all 51 contestants have traded in their pageant hair and cornball, prom gowns for that skanky, Gross Baboon of the Year look that all of Tiger Woods' skanks share."
Furthering his point, Gurko adds, "You cannot watch Jersey Shore and think it is hilarious, anxiously waiting Season Two, then judge Miley Cyrus for being too young to be sexy."
Oh course, Miley was 16 at the time of her lap dance and the cast of Jersey Shore are well over the age of 18 but the point is a valid one in a broader sense. We love to use and see sexualized imagery in advertising and the broader media but God forbid if it's one's son or daughter being sexualized.
more »
In an effort to challenge American Apparel's assertion the people in their sexually charged ads are ordinary people, Trent University student Jes Sachse, who suffers from a genetic disorder called Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, will appear on posters in Toronto transit stations May 6, 11, 22 and 31.
Photographed by her friend Holly Norris for a series called American Able, Saches will dress and pose as if she were in an American Apparel ad. As Norris writes on her site, "American Able intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are invisibilized in advertising and mass media."
more »
Loren Feldman of 1938 media has made a public plea to AOL CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong urging him to buy Facebook. Calling Mark Zuckerberg an asshole who can't be trusted and who treats people's data like "chips in some bullshit poker game," Feldman argues AOL is a brand that still means something and was known for its simplicity and its privacy, something that's currently dogging Facebook.
Feldman says Armstrong should go on TV and plead his case to the American public and educate them about what's going on with Facebook and why it would be better under the AOL umbrella.
If you're into alternative opinions, give this video a watch. You won't be disappointed.
more »
|
