Hasta La Creative!

So, we’ll let the conversation roll in a regular series we dub, “Is it Racist,” which is essentially the brainchild of Gitamba Saila-Ngita, a multidisciplinary designer and innovation strategist, living, working, and playing between CT / NYC / SF. He is the founder and chief innovation strategist of DEFT COLLECTIVE, a creative innovation agency based in Hartford, Connecticut.

My name is Gitamba Saila-Ngita and I once helped an agency sell sugar water to children. I’ve also helped them sell new technologies, ideas, and other people’s culture. But what I’ve always found funniest is when I’ve been hired to make things more, “urban” and by “urban” they meant “black”. Race is a topic that in the United States at times feels like we’re trying to seriously look at it with a fine lens and other times completely turning a blind eye to avoid it because it might make for a lack of a better word a few folks, butt hurt.

Recently in the last few months I’ve found that for advertising folks and almost always on this blog we’re hashing over if something is, “racist or not”. Mainly under the pretense that a group of people were offended by the subject matter in the ad and have used the internet to voice their opinion. I reached out to Kiran because I wanted to hopefully start a casual dialogue about the matter from the perspective of ad folks who clearly make these communications for their respective clients.

First let’s define some things so we can look at this objectively.

Racism is defined by most dictionaries as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities     and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular  race” and a racist as “a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is     superior to any or all others. For fun, let’s throw in offensive as “causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying”

With those thoughts in mind, I wanted  to find an ad each time I or anyone else writes for this series and put it through those quantifying factors with understanding that the third one is purely subjective to an individual or group.

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Meet Deadpool, a Marvel supervillain-turned-superhero who comic book fanatics regard as “awesome” and non-comic fans refer to as “who?” Deadpool came into existence during the early 90s, a time when a collector-driven mentality molded the industry into what some regard as the “Style Era.” With sales at an all-time high, comic books publishers made an effort to churn out as many different characters as they could, focusing more on pizazz (elaborate costumes, big muscles, and huge breasts) than actual storytelling. Many now regard the early 90s as a low-point for the industry, a time when publishers bankrupted themselves both morally and financially to put whatever they could on the shelves in the flashiest packaging possible only to have demand nosedive.

However, a few characters from this era didn’t get swift deaths when the industry adopted a back-to-basics approach to storytelling in the early 2000s. Among them is Spider-man’s black-suited monstrous nemesis Venom, who has a ridiculous backstory but looks too cool to dislike. Another is Deadpool, originally an X-Men villain whose Peter Parker-esque sarcastic, quippy persona endeared him to fans who enjoy honest-to-God humor in their superheroes’ repertoire.

In fact, the above trailer from Ignited alums and Activision for Deadpool: The Game actually hits the character’s personality right on the nose, even if his whole backstory of looking for a job at Marvel HQ makes abso-fucking-lutely no sense in context. Why would Deadpool look for a job at Marvel? It isn’t explained at all during this trailer’s 2-minute runtime, nor is it hinted at during the character’s public appearance at Comic Con. Either way there’s a Deadpool video game coming out in June, so fans are probably almost as stoked as they were when Ryan Reynolds played the character in 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Have fun, you guys!

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It’s been almost a year since we last covered Jack Link’s and their Sasquatch antihero, but everyone’s favorite ugly creature is back to sell some beef jerky and beat up anyone who messes with him (it). Minneapolis-based agency Carmichael Lynch has produced three new spots for the campaign, all of which were once again directed by Rocky Morton.

In the above commercial – “All Dolled Up” – three fools try to get their kicks by putting makeup on Sasquatch. He responds by flipping their car and possibly killing them, because, well,  Sasquatch doesn’t wear lipstick. The ads tap into the creature’s vaguely redneck brand appeal with foggy rural settings and the fact that the product is beef jerky. If I learned anything here, it’s to avoid Jack Link’s beef jerky, because eating it will lead to serious personal injury and an upset Sasquatch. Two more clips and the credits after the jump.

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This is no Merriam-Webster, but if you’ve ever wanted to define words like “poopocalypse” and “glueslime,” then the “Language of the Domestic Jungle” is the right dictionary for you. Created for Clorox by Onion Labs – the creative services unit launched by The Onion a year ago – the Domestic Jungle spots employ Discovery Channel-esque narration to color their potty humor with some faux-sophistication. If you’re a legal adult who thinks poop jokes never get old (like me) there’s even a comprehensive Icktionary that can provide grammatical guidance for immaturity.

In the coming weeks, three more spots will air for the campaign. I can confirm that one of the terms is, in fact, “Splatteral Damage.” Even though that’s a dumb phrase that will make some people shake their heads, I wish I could’ve come up with that myself. These dirty situations do exist, and it’s easy to shrug them off as disgusting, but maybe you’ll get a kick out of watching some silly videos. And maybe you’ll think of Clorox next time you need to disinfect. Or maybe I’m 23 and alone in my appreciation for bathroom humor, and commenters will line up to criticize these ads. We’ll see. You can watch the “Glueslime” spot after the jump.

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Russia’s abysmal track record for gay rights got unnecessarily worse last year, when a court ruling banned gay parades in the country for the next 100 years. Today, Stockholm Pride and M&C Saatchi Stockholm are fighting back with gowest2013.com, a digital campaign that lets Russians celebrate gay rights on Twitter for one well-intentioned thorn in the side of the Russian government: to get “Go West” trending in Russia. How are they going to accomplish this from a Swedish website, you ask? All tweets from the website automatically change location to a Russian city. Got to love technology.

If Stockholm Pride accomplishes their goal, I’d love to see the faces of Russian government officials after “Go West” starts trending. Stalin rolls in his grave, Putin rolls in his bed, Sting makes more music videos like this. If you’re interested in contributing, you can tweet from the website to help the cause and watch as Princeton, New Jersey turns into Ufa, Russia.

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The Dutch government, with help from Mustache, has launched Holland. The Original Cool. It’s a 3-year joint effort sponsored by the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, KLM Airlines, Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Marketing and aims to increase tourism from America.

Informing America Holland isn’t just flowers and windmills, a two minute video touts some of the things AMericans give fancy names to but are simply a way of life in Holland. It sure looks inviting to us.

Currently, the video sits in the number two spot on Reddit’s video page.

As you may know, Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Russell Westbrook suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first round of NBA Playoffs. Instead of flying in for dunks, Westbrook has watched the rest of his team’s games with crutches by his side. And even though the Thunder are one game away from playoff elimination, Champs and Jordan brand have decided to launch a new Westbrook campaign, created by L.A.-based agency Zambezi and filmed pre-injury, as perhaps a sign of solidarity for their hobbled endorser. The above commercial will run for the next few weeks during the Conference Finals.

In the spot, a high school basketball player transforms into Westbrook on and off the court when he gets new Jordan gear from Champs Sports. The on-the-court part is great, but the off-the-court part may not be a good look for a high school kid – or any human being with two spoonfuls of self-respect, for that matter – since Westbrook is the guy who wears this in his free time. Regardless of the fashion lampooning or the fake glasses he wore regularly to post-game press conferences, the decision to keep the campaign alive after Westbrook’s injury is a cool gesture from the brands involved. Be on the lookout for more Westbrook spots as we head into the never-ending stretch of NBA Playoff basketball that precedes summer.

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On Thursday, NBC’s long-running U.S. version of The Office will celebrate its series finale after nine seasons on air, the last three of which everyone would like to pretend never happened because they were pretty boring and shitty.

The end of The Office also means the end of free product placement for Dunder Mifflin, the fictional-turned-real paper company licensed from Comcast by Staples two years ago to sell under the latter’s Quill brand. What might have seemed like a clever business venture at the time is now looking a bit silly as, with no more episodes of The Office on the horizon, Dunder Mifflin’s charm as a gag gift is fading quickly. Soon (as in probably about a year a so), if someone gets you a ream of Dunder-Mifflin paper, you will not laugh knowingly at the brand, thus depreciating the only value it offers. Instead, you will marvel at the fact that a friend got you a ream of paper as a gift, and likely consider them a total asshole.

Hopefully, Staples will put Dunder Mifflin out of its misery faster than NBC did with The Office, but in the meantime, we’re still getting spots produced by LA-based crowdsourcers Tongal that are even worse than the last season of the show they’re based on. Luckily for America, the above spot is only running during the series finale’s telecast in five Dunder Mifflin “branch” markets (Scranton, Utica, Akron, Albany and Syracuse), so you would most likely be spared if you hadn’t visited AgencySpy today. Sorry about that, but hey, at least we get Steve Carell back for the two-hour finale on Thursday, right?

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Recognizing mistakes retroactively is easy. After the damage is done, heads roll downhill as people ask, “Who could’ve let this happen?” At times, the criticism can be unfounded. The political correctness machine does not care much for different sides to an offensive story. But sometimes, in cases of extreme public blunders, the story only has one side.

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen two thoughtless content blunders – one from Mountain Dew, the other for Hyundai – that resulted in serious and immediate public backlash. Mountain Dew’s goat spot was developed by rapper Tyler, the Creator, and was quickly pulled by Pepsi Co. after viewers complained of racism and misogyny. As you’ll see in the above ABC News clip, it’s also being referred to as “the most racist commercial ever” for the way it reinforces black stereotypes. The Hyundai spot, which aimed to pull humor and brand equity out of a failed garage suicide attempt, may go down as one of the most insensitive commercials ever. Hyundai reached out to AgencySpy, hoping to distance itself from the bad press about an hour after we published excerpts of a heartfelt blog post from Holly Brockwell, a London-based copywriter whose father died in a similar manner to what was portrayed in the ad.

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“Anthem” the latest effort from Atlanta-based 22squared and the Costa Rica Tourism Board, may look like the rough cut of a Coldplay music video. The one-minute spot features shots of sherbet sunsets, beautiful landscapes, and even a frog jumping in slow-motion. The music is actually from M83 (from their Oblivion score), not Coldplay, but the point is that the commercial has the big sounds and simulated importance of something we’re used to seeing in music videos. That’s not a bad thing.

A few of Costa Rica’s recent tourism pitches have tried to capture this splashy substance. Patrick Pierson, who directed “Anthem,” also made the colorfully moody “Get Living.” And two years ago,  there was the Effie-winning Million Dollar Happiness campaign. In the travel ad arms race, Costa Rica is destroying those clumsy Ocean City commercials with the lifeguard who has frosted hair. Slow-motion frogs beat inserts of standard beaches every time. Credits after the jump.

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