Cannes Lions

I attended the opening night of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity yesterday at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and as always, I laughed, I cried, and I asked myself “What the eff did I just watch?”

The biggest WTF of the night was Lady Gaga’s perfume ad: black tar, nakedness, and bondage-clad men galore. I had no idea what I was watching. It reminded me of her music videos, but with no Lady Gaga music. 

To be honest, a perfume commercial didn’t do the big idea justice. The idea of commercialism and provocative art just wasn't gelling this time, unfortunately. 

However, there were many commercials that made up for it. The Carlton Beer ad was perfect—just watch as the burglars and cops go over the hill.

Another highlight was Dove, where I cried, obviously. The sketches were heart-breaking when you see how differently people view themselves compared to how other people view them.

APES had a clever ad, which to me was one of the highlights of the night produced by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Chicago. It shows what message can be sent when a gorilla and a can of white paint are mixed together.

The last batch of commercials of the night had a mixed response from the audience. Intel and Toshiba teamed together and made a series of videos (more like short films) that had the message “The beauty inside”.

The shorts were interesting to watch, but after almost forty minutes, it felt like way too much.

Visit http://wag.ca/visit/entertainment/film/display,event/521/2013-cannes-lions for more information on where and when you can see these awesome commercials! DON’T MISS OUT! 

An interesting question...

Filming a PSA is hard. 

It’s easy to think of a concept for a PSA, however it’s incredibly hard to think of a great concept for a PSA because, most of the time, PSAs are often heavy-handed or very cheesy.

For my Media Production class we had to film a PSA for a client. My group’s idea was strong, but executing it took a lot of time and patience. Adding music, the first time, made the 30 sec. PSA look like an SNL video short, which was NOT what we were going for at all.

Eventually we had luck though with a music track, and not to sound entitled, but I think we deserve a bonus mark just for that manhunt.

However, a lot of PSAs do miss the mark, and while ours was salvaged and the music complemented our final product, I can say, without a doubt, it’s effin’ hard and I commend the people who do it on the regular.

One PSA, which has definitely stayed with me since I watched it, has to do with bullying. The PSA from France asks, ‘why is bullying okay in schools when we would never condone it in the workplace?’

What an excellent question!

The mentality that ‘kids will be kids’ is an incredibly detrimental notion when compared in ‘Le Monde en face : Harcèlement à l'école’.

It’s an amazing commercial that everyone should watch, especially those who go to school and those who teach in schools, too.

Some of the scenes in the PSA are hard to stomach, but for some kids in school, this is their reality and yet, if this happened in the workplace it would be dealt with by HR and the perpetrators would be fired. 

What we need is an HR department in schools. 

What do you think?

I want those sweeties!!!

If I hadn't been so lazy this week, this commercial would have been perfect to post on Thursday during my ‘Throwback Thursday’ edition of television advertisements.

You see, for my marketing class, we were handing in an integrated marketing campaign to promote condom usage on Thursday and the commercial below would have been serendipitous to post.

Of course I didn’t.

However, let’s pretend that it’s Thursday, the weekend is upon us and it isn’t Sunday when we dread waking up early the next day to start another long week of work/school/exhaustion. Optimism!

Below is a banned commercial from, I believe, France (bons bons?) and it's absolutely hilarious. Although I can see why it was banned—the use of fear tactics is not subtle—but it’s a clever way to get the point across. Especially clever if your mentality is where the very idea of kids resembles the child in this commercial. 

Also, I used to be a nanny, so this situation is something I've encountered many times, and the biggest incentive to deal with a tantrum is knowing at the end of the day you're going to get paid for it. 

The guy in the video, not so much. 

Chocolate couture

Here I am cutting it severely close with a blog post that HAS to go out Thursday.

Typical.

However, I had promised my advertising version of “Throwback Thursday” would be a constant on my blog—and damn to hell if I don’t keep one promise here!

Kate Moss hologram

This week, I’m dedicating it to chocolate—which is fitting since it’s Halloween after all.

In 2010, Cadbury came out with one of the most beautifully crafted commercials I had ever seen. It was high fashion, pure indulgence, and utterly ethereal.

Video maker Baillie Walsh directed the Cadbury commercial and had previously worked with the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen to create a hologram of Kate Moss during McQueen’s 2006 Autumn/Fall collection.

The billowing fabric, the arms trailing—both are haunting. The commercial resembles the hologram image of Moss, and the similarities between the two are striking. For me, this aspect provides the only real criticism I have regarding the commercial. Otherwise, I’m totally enthralled for that minute.

You will be too.

 

The romance, the drama, the love: Chanel No. 5

I meant to write this a while ago. I actually meant to do one every Thursday because it’s such an awesome idea—you know, if I had to describe it in one word.

It’s a “Throwback Thursday” version for advertising! Cheers!

I don’t need to state the truism that there has been some awesome advertising in the past. But on Recoco, I wanted to put my favourites.

My goal is to be consistent with this in the future because I’ve run out of decent-looking baby pictures to upload on Instagram—my priorities have now shifted.

To start off, I will show you my inaugural submission to this category—it’s an oldie but a goodie.

It was the commercial that initially piqued my interest in advertising. A perfume advert for Channel, which also happened to feature Nicole Kidman who had stared in my favourite movie ever: Moulin Rouge.

Not to mention it was directed by Baz Luhrmann, who directed Moulin Rouge also.

So I admit, I may have been wearing rose-coloured glasses while watching Kidman channel her inner ingénue in Chanel couture. 

Heck, I may still be wearing them, but this is an awesome commercial—I don’t care! Enjoy the romance, the drama, the love with Chanel No. 5.

Fat-shaming Melissa McCarthy

There's no doubt that Melissa McCarthy looks beautiful on the cover of ELLE.

However, there's been some considerable controversy regarding whether ELLE covered up the star's body in an oversized coat.

Right now oversized fall coats are all the rage. I see them everywhere—the mall, online, catalogues—and it appears that even the tiniest of women are enjoying the current trend, too.

The question remains though, that in the context of Melissa McCarthy and the fact that ELLE’s issue also has other female cover stars wearing less, was McCarthy treated differently because she’s bigger?

Perhaps.

Reese Witherspoon appears in a black Versace cutout dress, Shailene Woodley is dressed in a bathing suit, and Penelope Cruz is shown pushing her hair back to reveal a bare face.

At the same time, we should also ask what Melissa McCarthy thinks. It’s unfair to assume that she’s as equally unhappy as those who are reacting critically to the cover.

Each one of these women is at different stage in their life, too: Woodley is an emerging star, Reese Witherspoon is a veteran, and Cruz, while also a veteran, is pregnant as well.

McCarthy is known for comedic roles. The roles are often atypical of female comedians, and when she delves into a role you are reminded of Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, and Steve Buscemi because what she’s doing is so groundbreaking.

The roles are not sophisticated—think Bridesmaids—but that’s why she’s so great. She’s breaking down gender norms for female comedic roles.

The cover of ELLE may have been a way for her to relish in her femininity. This is assuming that fashion shoots are as glorious as they sound—she was probably having fun picking clothes out of one of the best couture closets ever.

Therefore, I commend her for her ability to transition so easily between what is considered the gender norms for males and females. I find that women are so uncomfortable with lowbrow humour, and yet we can laugh when men scrape the dirt with it.

Many believe that ELLE is fat-shaming McCarthy by putting her on the cover with an oversized coat, and given the context of other stars who’ve been put on covers and made to look slimmer—I agree.

However, I also believe that if it were a male on the cover in a bulky coat, it would just be about him and not about his weight.

That’s the difference we constantly rely on between male and female celebrities.

Is criticizing her cover taking away from the beauty of it? Are we a part of the fat-shaming, too?

Those are difficult questions and there’s a strong argument from both sides.

Personally, I don’t want to take McCarthy’s agency away from the cover where she reportedly picked out the coat and felt the experience “was kind of amazing”.

She’s one of my favourite actresses, especially when she hosts SNL, and it’s unfortunate that half of the stories written about her are either criticizing or defending her weight.

It doesn’t surprise me that this would be a part of the narrative of her celebrity. 

What do you think?

What did the fox say?

I’m obsessed with Howard Gossage. I adore his sense of humour, and his ability to come up with surreal promotional ideas that involve winning a kangaroo and mailing in for “pink air”.

In class, we were given the opportunity to make a Gossage-inspired ad for The Bay.

I’m also obsessed with The Bay.

However, thinking like Gossage is a lot harder than I anticipated. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of taking one of his ideas and applying it to the fit The Bay’s criteria. Therefore, I avoided Gossage-isms at all costs: no winning a kangaroo and no receiving a balloon of pink air.

My original idea was to revert back to the fur trade. However, that has a whole list of past and present negative connotations, despite it being a part of Canada’s rich history.

You’re welcome, PETA.

Instead, I thought: What did the fox say?

Well, he said nothing. He ran away.

My ad focuses on the case of the missing fox from The Bay’s coat of arms, and what the moose would do without him. I tried my best to find a vintage picture of the fox, but no such image exists unless it’s severely pixilated. Therefore, I use a modern version of the coat of arms—and luckily it still works.

Enjoy!