Here’s a Quick Update on a Few Arnold Creatives

johnkearseAnd now, in more staffing news, we have received word from sources in the know that Arnold Worldwide and a couple of creative staffers have parted ways, mainly John Kearse and Rob Kottkamp, who we’ve been told are joining up with Mullen within the next couple of weeks. During his eight-year stint at Arnold, Kottkamp moved up the ranks from art director to senior AD to his most recent role as SVP/creative director, working on, among other things, under Pete Johnson on Carnival. Johnson remains executive creative director on said account. As for Kearse, the creative has spent nearly a decade at Arnold, helping lead creative on truth and Santander among other accounts. No word yet on SVP/creative director Mike Howard, but we’re hearing a change to freelance status at Arnold is in the works.

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Cigarettes and Bodily Waste: The Ugly Truth

Lately, there’s a lot of content to cover on the bathroom humor beat. Yesterday, we reviewed some poop comedy for the new Clorox campaign. Today, we have a 30-second spot titled “Poop vs. Pee” from Arnold Worldwide and truth, the anti-smoking organization. This ad takes a radical shift in tone from meaningless poop jokes. There may be some uncomfortable chuckling here, but the point is to make the viewer aware of two facts: methane, a chemical in dog poop, can be found in cigarette smoke; urea, a chemical in cat pee, is also used in cigarettes. As you’ll see in the clip, there are some silly sound effects and visual representations to make it obvious that bodily excrement is gross, and in turn, chemicals found in our waste shouldn’t be voluntarily inhaled.

On truth’s website, you can read about their strategy for raising awareness, which is echoed in the commercial. They don’t tell people to stop smoking, because that sort of pitch doesn’t work on little children, let alone addicted smokers. So, to get the point across, they appeal to their target audience with alternative methods, such as disgusting facts. Stripping away moralistic lecturing in favor of poop jokes might just be bizarre enough to catch someone’s attention. Credits after the jump.

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