The latest content to read and review from After These Messages. http://www.afterthesemessages.com (c) 2007 onebluearth http://www.afterthesemessages.com/feed/description 2008-07-05T11:03:06Z info@afterthesemessages.com 2008-07-05T11:03:06Z info@afterthesemessages.com Touring exhibition shows the reality of a cell in Guantánamo Bay. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/267 1213365168 English anti-alcohol campaign targets binge drinking by women. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/265 1212679595 Kmart's new line of sweatpants promotes abstinence in teenagers. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/264 1212618742 Dunkin Donuts has removed a web campaign featuring Rachel Ray after some viewers complained her scarf resembled a keffiyeh, a scarf often associated with the Palestinian independence movement. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/263 1212416675 Ad from Global Giving shows a world in which aid for good causes can be literally bought off the shelf. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/262 1211992576 Ad in the GE Ecomagination series, for clean water technologies. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/261 1211552846 Harrison Ford stars in a new commercial from Conservation International. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/260 1211491828 Cell phone plane Credo (previously Working Assets Wireless) donates part of your call payments to progressive causes. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/259 1211380607 Video advocates the creation of a humanitarian category at the Cannes Lions. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/258 1211315855 Bush goes after Iran in a speech to the Israeli Knesset. http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/review/257 1211223660 "You're walking down the street and suddenly a voice starts whispering seductively in your ear. "It's a surplus of style . . . Don't you want to chill in the Gap's surplus shorts?" Have you finally lost it and started hallucinating bad ad campaigns speaking inside your head? Nope, you're experiencing a technology that's already been deployed in New York City, where last December the A channel advertised its spooky show Paranormal State by broadcasting ads with a device that emits soundwaves you hear only when when those waves hit your body — which makes the sound seem to originate right next to you. Now other advertisers want to get in on the action and start beaming their slogans right into your head... (More here, at io9.com) http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/30 1210866687 The sprawling brick building-cum-billboard located at the corner of 7th Avenue South & Greenwich Avenue usually plays host to avant-garde Marc Jacobs ads, which remind us that fashion and beauty are subjective, inconsequential, fleeting, even a bit ugly.

But, this month, we’re treated to an interlude. Barney’s has introduced Loomstate for Barney’s Green, a collection of organic cotton denim, tees, tanks, hoodies, dresses, and skin-loving short shorts. The line is eminently earthy: muted tones of sea, sand and grass abound, and a percentage of the profits will be donated to 1% For the Planet.

Retailers such as The Gap, H&M and Levi’s have all found various ways to fuse fashion with responsibility, but none of them has the same cache as Barney’s, arguably the hippest of New York’s upscale department stores. Effectively, green now spans both high and low fashion; in this sense, Barney’s is a pioneer. Asserts fashion director Julie Gilhart, “We’re the first high-end retailer to start our own green label.” (Dallas Morning News)

Attention fashionistas and fashionistos! Barney’s invites you to make room in your closet for green. Or, better yet, get a new closet altogether.

This growing availability of and interest in green fashion begs the question: Is materialism justified when it’s green? Does the notion of green cause the shallowness that is widely attached to consumption to suddenly dissolve into saintly importance? http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/20 1181591778 In a world of infinite availability of information, context is king. The age-old truism that it’s not what you say but how you say it has never been truer than it is now.

The generals of the language wars are men like Frank Luntz, on the right, and George Lakoff, on the left. Luntz is the Republican strategist famous for rephrasing global warming as the more tepid “climate change,” and changing the “estate tax” to the “death tax.” Lakoff is a cognitive linguistics professor at the University of California, Berkeley who has become a guiding philosopher for the Democratic Party, suggesting that the left has fallen far behind in taking on the persuasive language strategies of men like Luntz.

Though a jello-wrestling match between both men would make for an entertaining and lucrative Pay-Per-View event, the language wars extend far beyond such figureheads and into our daily communicative strategies. The concept of “reframing” has become a regular fixture of political and business discourse. In the world of communication, facts are much less important than the context they are used in.

These are strategies that can and should be used to communicate socially responsible ideas, especially in a time when the socially irresponsible seem to be the most willing to use language to persuade people astray.

The proponents of environmental responsibility, for instance, have long appealed to negative emotions like fear and guilt to push people into supporting green causes. The underlying mythology that “if we don’t all stop polluting, we will all die” communicates little but a sense of hopelessness and the feeling that even positive efforts will have no effect in the long run.

Why not appeal to people’s sense of pride, of belonging, of sense of security? Why frame a healthy environment as an impossibility instead of a baseline reality that should be a universal, and universally attainable, human right? Hopeful people take action; scared people hide.

What are the destructive frames lurking in the communication landscape? How can ecological, humanitarian and other crucial issues be framed in a way that promotes positive action instead of fearful inaction? What advertising firms and campaigns should be particularly commended for constructive use of framing and language for positive change?

http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/12 1178036568 Just wanted to drop a note of thanks to everyone who has signed up for After These Messages so far. We're now a community of over 400 people in the communications industry who have decided to take what they do, as professionals, seriously. We've seen some lively debate in the comment sections (consensus: Lonelygirl15 is cute) and the matrix has fleshed out with a variety of campaigns and plot points. We've also been getting some press coverage of the site on AdFreak and also on Mediabistro, so folks are definitely taking notice.

On our own end, we are still making improvements to the usability and interface but we're moving at a great pace. We only ask that everyone please spread the word about the site; use the spread messages section of the site to send e-postcards; remember, each person who signs up after receiving one of your cards will give you 10 points towards the "conscience schwag" that we're giving out, so that's like getting 10 fake Rolexes for the price of one, or something like that.

We also encourage people to submit their own e-postcards, as well as digging deep within themselves to find their own Gray Area. Okay, not too deep, but you know, more than shallow. We want this site to be a community where people should feel free to put up their own work and ideas, get helpful critiques, and also show the rest of the world how we feel about a particular ad or poster. This is a community made up of the very people who are creating this work (and they're listening), so your voice will be heard.

In any case, see you on the boards, and stay chatty! http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/10 1160175242 Whilst writing another article for the launch of After These Messages I became curious about ethics in other communication forms. Friends, family, and one “Bapi” were kind enough to answer some questions for me. Vroom.

Participants

Claire “wee” Mitchell is a Scottish freelance journalist who’s made New York her home for 5 years now. Her clients include Nylon, City, and the New York Post. She misses Glasgow and deep-fried Mars bars.

Aldo Rossi is a professional photographer who worked for Steve Hiett and Bruce Weber before he started out on his illustrious career working in fashion and travel. He’s currently working on a portrait campaign for Loreal’s Bitotherm and a project photographing children across the country. Aldo wanted to include this: “For the purpose of this study I am defining ethics as a code of values set by me. These values or morals define for me what is right and good and what is less than.”

Matthew Stuecken currently serves as Vice President of Development at The Sommers Company, a motion picture production company headed by Stephen Sommers, writer/director of "The Mummy," "The Mummy Returns" and "Van Helsing."

Patrick Miller is one of three designers at Faile located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Shows include: Baltic Center for Contemporary Arts – "Spank the Monkey" – Newcastle, EnglandFifty24 – "Faile Prints" – Portland, USA Shanghai Sculpture Space – "Translate" – Shanghai, China Irvine Contemporary – "Animalia" – Washington DC, USA Wieden+Kennedy – Mural Commision – Portland, USA WPAC – "Wall Snatchers" – Washington DC, USA Laz Inc. – "Group Show" – London, England. He’s a real decent bloke.

William Stuart is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Aurora Productions in LA, where he supervises the day-to-day operations of the company. Aurora Productions, under Stuart’s guidance, is currently developing several motion pictures, including STEALTH for New Line Cinema, ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE for Nic Cage’s Saturn Films and Intermedia, THE TRAVEL WRITER, and IMMORTALS for Universal Pictures.

Questions

Have you had any ethical conflicts in your career?

Writer: I once wrote a piece for the New York Post on a kidnapping company based in the city. Hilariously, they felt that the piece might encourage people to kidnap others, so I was asked to make sure that the piece was cautionary. I guess they didn’t think I made it cautionary enough, and they added a sidebar with scathing interviews from psychologists and policemen against the company’s activities. This was basically an art project, and they made it seem as if it were a terror threat. I guess scandal, and fear, sells more than art ever will.

Photographer: No.

Producer1: Working on documentaries that had tight budgets and schedules often created ethical conflicts. Without money or time for reshoots, I would cut together different bits of voiceover dialogue to make our subjects say things that they never really said. However, given that the result was within the "spirit" of the interview, this never really caused much concern, but I would find myself joking about disclaimers whenever we finished our latest "documentary."

This process is one of things that led me to feature films. Instead of piecing together words, why not pay someone to say the words you want them to say. Not only is it a less convoluted process, one could argue it's more real than documentary because it never claims to be anything other than fiction, whereas all documentary's have a point of view which keeps them from being objective and thus never truly unbiased. Now, as an executive in Hollywood, I find myself lying numerous times throughout the day. However, these are all white lies and since this is standard industry practice, it rarely causes any ethical concerns. The SOP is to tell people something nice about their client, their script, themselves, no matter how much of a stretch it actually is. No one wants to hear that you hated their client's script so you find one or two nice things to say about it (no matter how bad) and then make up an additional lie as to why the project is not right for your company. Everybody wins. The agent/manager then has something nice to say to his client and your company leaves the door open for the next bit of material that may actually be worthwhile.

Designer: There are certain projects we've turned down due to ethical concerns. This was really particular to cigarette work.

Producer2: Yes...I have had to base some employees corporate advancement.

Have you ever created or approved any work you wish you could pull back b/c of ethical issues?

Writer: Once when I was covering a photography show that was part of the Edinburgh Festival for an Edinburgh/Glasgow arts magazine, I was asked by my editor to change an unfavorable review into a favorable one because the owner of the gallery was a hard-hitter in the Scottish art world, and notoriously difficult. I was told it would make the magazine’s life easier. So really, I wasn’t asked to change it – I was told that it had to be changed. I have always had a bit of a problem with the huge commercialization of art and art as a commodity for the elite. I should have stuck by my guns!

Photogropher: No

Producer1: As mentioned above, these ethical concerns are within accepted industry practice so I've never regretted stepping into this gray ethical territory. In fact, starting out in development, I'd often be quite honest about the material that was submitted and the truth seemed to provide no value to either party. Looking back, I wish I would have learned to lie earlier in my career as a development executive.

Designer: No. We've been really tight about what we've put out there. And stand behind it, at least where ethics are concerned.

Producer2: Doesn't really happen in the motion picture business.

Have overly sensitive ethical considerations ever hampered creative?

Writer: See above! What should have been art criticism became purely business. And on top of that, what was published as my opinion wasn’t my opinion at all. I couldn’t be enthusiastic about something I thought was a pile of rubbish – and that half-heartedness killed any real life in the piece.

Photographer: I sometimes ask myself how something might construed in the mind of a viewer, but I remind myself that I cannot feel or react for another.

Producer1: When working in documentary, we had a Native American museum as a client for which we created content. Throughout the process, we had to tiptoe around their requests. Somewhat ironically, their biggest concern was often with how other Native American tribes perceived them and we'd often have to make find a way to tell their specific version of history that wasn't always the currently accepted version of history. Even though this did hamper some creative decisions, in the end, the client was paying for the project and it was up to us to deliver the product that they paid for (again, some of the documentary projects could have used a disclaimer).

Designer: Most of our clients are pretty liberal and are coming to us because they like the work and style we create. I think they are approaching us with an open mind; we do our best to only work with those clients.

Producer2: All the time...our business has become very PC (i.e., smoking in films) even thought it may be historically accurate.

Is there anything you absolutely won't do/say to get your concept across?

Writer: I admit, I will paraphrase sometimes, but I will never twist something someone said to conform to my own point of view.

Photographer: No.

Producer 1: While exaggerating a bit might be helpful in selling something, I would hesitate to outright lie when I'm attempting to sell a project. Eventually you'll get found out and then your credibility is damaged, which is a high price to pay for one project.

Designer: I guess I'd never say never. But I can imagine there are a lot of things that we wouldn't do to simply portray an idea. (I guess this is maybe a little too vague, or I don't fully understand the question. Like I would never beat people or animals or something to make a point, unless of course it was an extreme situation and I had a really good point. So maybe by that logic, there are very few things that I wouldn't do, bearing in mind extremes. But this sounds like it refers to a pitch or something. In which case the client may not appreciate being beaten).

Producer2: I would try not to insult anyone personally...other than that, No.

What do you hope to achieve with your form of communication?

Writer: Words that aren’t impenetrable – so many arts publications get caught up in themselves. And also, I want people to take from me, and then make up their own mind. I don’t want to proselytize – I hate when people do that to me, so I try hard not to do that to anyone else.

Photographer: To get a glimpse of it.

Producer1: Eyeballs. Making feature films within the studio system is an inherently commercial enterprise. The amount of money involved in mounting a film is so great that one should never lose sight of the goal, which is making a movie that enough people want to pay to see to justify its cost. Some might argue that this hampers creativity because you're attempting to attract a disparate audience with one story. owever, most directors have their vision of the story they want to tell and they are making the movie that they want to make. It's up to the studio to assess whether or not that vision lines up with the economics of the project. No one ever sets out to make a bad film.

Designer: Goosebumps.

Producer2: Mass audience appeal and sometimes a thought-provoking message.

Have you ever had a reaction to something you did that was completely unexpected? If so what?

Writer: Not yet. I look forward to it though!

Photographer: Sometimes I see pictures that I don’t even know that I took. They always come from my heart and not my head and they have a very powerful and long lasting effect on everybody who sees them. That’s good.

Producer1: The film business requires the type of schmoozing that goes against my Midwestern roots. I often find myself hugging people I've just met and telling them some version of how "fabulous" something they did is. I'm always surprised when I'm able to turn on this version of myself (so I guess you could say that I struggle with the ethical concerns of being friendly and supportive).

Designer: I think the work we've done on the street has been a surprise in the way people respond. We've always strived to create a dialogue through our work on the street. A place where people can step into a moment and have an emotional experience of sorts. I think the fact that people embrace the work, in a really positive way mostly, when it was initially just an experiment, was a pleasant surprise.

Producer2: Probably...but I don't remember.
http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/9 1159374112 Kirk Souder was a co-founder of Ground Zero, where he worked on acclaimed campaigns for Sega and the Anti-Tobacco Initiative. He is currently a partner with Granite Pass, a project-based creative resource. He is steered by his son McKinley. Click here to listen.
http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/8 1158958600 Jimmie Stone is Partner and Executive Creative Director of Green Team. Here he speaks about the origins and intentions of After These Messages.

What’s important to you?

Authenticity. To be surrounded by authentic people. To be whatever you are–constantly. That will give you credibility. Even if you’re a bad person. If you’re an authentically bad person, I respect you.

How does After These Messages address that?

I’m not sure that I can explain how authenticity is related to ATM, but I believe it’s part of what Green Team is looking for. It’s a way for us to open up our thinking. It is a way for us to understand where other people draw the line on responsibility in communication. Also it’s a wake up call for us to see if what we think is important for the rest of the world.

We’re inside this bubble we call Green Team, where we all kinda think alike, even though we have heated debates amongst each other.

After These Messages helps us investigate outside this bubble. It’s interesting that a lot of people don’t grasp the power and importance of communication.

Does the communication industry as a whole need a wake up call?

Every industry is dominated by a few. And that few knows exactly what they are doing. They have a great interest in maintaining the status quo, lets say they have a “deep sleep.” Others are awake to the power they have, and misuse it. And then there is the rest, the majority (like always) needs a wake-up call.

Where would you like to see ATM a year from now?

I would like to see it as a brand in itself. A community of communicators talking about their jobs, openly, honestly, and eventually, it will take a form of its own. We would like to compile a compendium. To see ATM be part of the larger communication portals (AdForum, AdCritic), something like an ATM Seal of Approval. But then again, we don’t want to control it, we want to see how evolves. What help would it be if we influence ATM’s future? It defeats the purpose.

Why did Green Team create After These Messages?

Green Team was founded on the principal that, through communications, we can change the world. As you can see we are kinda obsessively optimistic. ATM is a natural campaign for Green Team to really enforce our existence. If we all understand the power of our jobs, and realize that we are in this world for just minutes we all can chip in to improve it.

And, to tell you the truth, it’s extremely important that we never stop learning. We need to understand much better all the gray areas on responsible communications what are the limits, boundaries, and when are we just being extreme, the last one is very important.

So, can the same mind that censors itself, ever let itself fully go again?

That is a good question, and that’s the type of thing we would like to find out in ATM. It happens to me, and I hate it when it does. I think that creativity is a powerful force, and we need to let it loose, but what we’re trying to say in this campaign is, make sure that you at least think about the impact of your work before is released. That’s all just think about it.

I don’t think creativity, at the moment of creation, needs to be responsible. In fact the moment of creation should be actively irresponsible. I think the moment of communication, or deploying that creativity is when our filters of responsibility should jump. But I’m also concerned that eventually those filters of responsibility are ultimately going to diminish our creative ability to break molds, to truly be new. Another question we need to address.

“Responsibility” is a boring word, but you put it inside yourself and don’t say it anymore. Be yourself and be honest. You can screw it up here and there, but at least you’re being honest. I think that the problem with communication today is that some is deliberately dishonest. I don’t hate many things, but this is an exception.

How do you dissolve ethical conflicts in your own work?

Discussing them with other people. Ethical conflicts are internal. It’s almost like playing tennis with yourself. That’s hard. It’s actually impossible, if you think about it. Sometimes you make the wrong decision, and that decision is made inside of you. I resolve conflicts by talking to people I trust. What is hard is to be open, humble and objective, and not visceral.

Whom do you trust?

I trust people who live their lives in the pursuit of something, From Chinese philosophers, to Tibor Kalman, to my grandmother. People who I love and will say what’s in their hearts, even if they are wrong. I trust authentic people.

What is it you’re pursuing?

I believe we can change things, move human race forward. But I didn’t study diplomacy, I didn’t study politics, for some reason, my life went into advertising. And I still believe in change. I study advertising in the work of Toscani and the work of Tibor.

I am a believer and I am a dad, which force me to believe even more, and I play in my laptop Apple's “here’s to the crazy ones” ad everyday; imagine how one ad can make a difference.
http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/7 1158623899 David Baldwin is Partner and Executive Creative Director of McKinney in Durham, NC. In his 20 plus years in advertising, he has worked for some of the industry’s marquee creative shops, including Della Femina, Travisano & Partners New York, Hal Riney & Partners in San Francisco, Cole & Weber in Portland, Deutsch New York, and Leonard/Monahan in Providence, Rhode Island. Along the way, he’s garnered hundreds of creative accolades, including a Kelly Award and 18 One Show pencils. He agreed to share his thoughts on advertising and its responsibilities with After These Messages in an interview held August 2006.

Does advertising have a responsibility to society?
Absolutely. We have a responsibility to make sure we’re not lying. And I think 90% of it doesn’t. I think a lot of infomercials don’t tell the truth. More seductive than lying is spin, and spin is a form of lying.

The effects of it are that our culture believes a pill will solve your problems. If you are an over-eater, you don’t have to not eat. If you’re stressed out, you don’t have to try to reduce your stress. I think that’s a dangerous form of spin. It allows people to think that you don’t have to take personal responsibility. It’s absolutely ludicrous.

What about deceptive communication from a mass brand?
Here’s an example of a mass brand that I found to be absolutely inappropriate, and jaw-droppingly amazing it went throught all these people. It was Kentucky Fried Chicken claiming it was a low-fat food. They had to pull the campaign after two weeks, because of public outcry. Everyone was like, “Are you kidding me? Are you crazy?”

The other questionable marketing campaign is the Army, because I don’t think they market it truthfully. I think they market it as this adventure…and cool things you’ll get to do, when really what that is is a way out for people who don’t have any other options. I think that’s unethical marketing, personally.

On not allowing his kids to watch TV commercials:
My wife and I really didn’t let our kids watch TV when they were really little. They would watch Sesame Street, or a Disney video, but never a heavy dose of TV. We sat down one time to watch TV, and we had this sort of nostalgic moment, and we said, “Hey, let’s watch Bugs Bunny,” and literally that morning, they started asking for stuff that was on the tube. It was amazing to watch how fast it happened.

We want our kids to stay kids for as long as possible before they become consumers. I do believe in personal responsibility, and this is a personal thing I’m doing. And I very much am coming from a low horse, and not a high horse when I say all of what I’m saying. I have no idea if I’m right, it’s just what we decided to do.

On applying the concept of personal responsibility to his work:
I have made some horrible mistakes. And once you have kids, you realize that some of the decisions you’ve made in the past may not be the best. Now when we [McKinney] do something that’s talking to 18 year-olds, where we might do something edgy, it’s something that’s on my mind. I don’t think it’s black and white, I think it’s about people using common sense.

What we try to do in our agency is make sure that what we’re saying is true, and we’re not doing that fake spin thing. I can’t say I’ve ever really been in a hard decision where someone was trying to lie. I’ve dealt with unscrupulous clients before, but that’s different.

About those “horrible mistakes:”
As a Creative Director, you have 100 things coming at you a day, and sometimes you make a misstep.

On humor:
I’ve learned if you’re going to have the butt of a joke in your commercial, it probably shouldn’t be a homosexual or a woman.

Why not?
It’s not healthy. It’s not right. It sends a bad message.

On working on alcohol accounts:
We do the work for Southern Comfort online. I’ve had people come and tell me they don’t want to work on it, and I’ll say, “Okay, fine, you don’t have to.” I refused to work on alcohol the first ten years of my career. But I’ve come to change my view of what alcoholism is, and that’s why I’m okay with it. I believe it isn’t marketing that makes alcoholics.

On ethical sensitivity gotten out of hand:
Remember the Nike spot with the serial killer? I thought that [the pulling of the spot] was ludicrous. It’s as Luke Sullivan says, “the letter comes pouring in.” You get one group protesting, and it catches like wildfire–without the facts. If you actually watch that commercial, the woman triumphs. And yet it was portrayed as being misogynistic. I actually remember seeing that spot, and thinking, “that’s so cool, that they did that.” And then this hysteria rose, and they had to pull the spot. I was flabbergasted by that.

On the television networks’ standards and practices departments:
It’s a severe form of contradiction–and I’m being kind by saying “contradiction”–but the networks have these people who determine what advertising is appropriate or not. And what they do is they will keep something off the air, but they’re keeping it off NYPD Blue, where I have to see Sipowicz’ ass.

It’s absolutely ludicrous. It just shows you the sort of double standard that’s going on. I think those people are despicable, personally. If they are really trying to have standards and practices, they’re not looking at themselves, they’re only looking at advertising, and it’s a false wall. I’ve had commercials with nothing wrong with them, and they get bounced back. And I go, “Wait a minute, you just showed my son a CSI promo, at 2:00 p.m.–of a dead child! Are you kidding me?” It’s really maddening.

Any final thoughts?
There was an article in Fortune about 10 or 15 years ago, and it was about how advertising was becoming kinda blue. It was about “pottymouth,” and they showed like two or three of my ads. I was like, “Oh, my God!” I never really realized it, but I had an ad out there for Doc Martens that had the word “bastard” in it, and another with the word “ass” in it. I was young. I’ve learned a lot. Like I said, I want to come at this from a low horse, not a high horse. I certainly do not have a spotless record. And I think it’s important not to kill ourselves as an industry, as much as just to have the conversation.
http://www.afterthesemessages.com/obe/share/feature/6 1158623580