Hasta La Creative!

This week, Fox Sports and Burger King drew ire for an offensive animated segment poking fun at Jessica Simpson’s weight. The segment, aside from being in bad taste, was beyond insulting to women of all ages. Both Fox and Burger King have issued apologies to Simpson, but it may be too little too late, pointing out, yet again, that making fun of a woman’s weight is still acceptable, especially when done in a chest-thumping manner.

It doesn’t stop there. Ralph Lauren was also under fire this week for a print ad that was photoshopped to ridiculous proportions — the model’s head appears to be about twice the size of her pelvis. When called to the carpet, this is what Lauren had to say:

“For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.”

Apparently, quality, integrity, and brand standards are quite slim. The model, size 4, 120-pound, 5-foot-10 Filippa Hamilton, claims she was fired in April for being “too fat.”

Meanwhile, German magazine Brigitteannounced they would only use “realistic” women in their magazine from now on instead of professional models, prompting Chanel uberdesigner Karl Lagerfeld to pronounce that no one wanted to see “curvy” women and that only “fat mothers” object to thin models, despite the overwhelming approval of American fashionistas to plus-size model Lizzie Miller’s nude photo in Glamour last August, as well as the success of Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty.” To me, as well as many other women, healthy always trumps skeletal.

It bothers me that it’s 2009, and we’re still talking about body-image distortion in advertising. True, I could point out how these ads contribute to eating disorders and low self esteem, but what bothers me more than anything is that this standard is still only applied to women. These archaic standards still say that fat (ie: larger than a size 4, which is a standard sample size) equals lazy, sloppy, and unworthy of respect and basic human dignity, despite studies showing that an average American woman wears a size 14. There has to be a balance somewhere between art and commerce; a size 16 woman’s money is as legal tender as a size 2’s, is it not?

Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger in search of her next opportunity. Contact her via Twitter, LinkedIn, or her blog.

Microsoft is breaking out the big guns on CW’s Vampire Diaries tonight to promote Windows 7 OS, which will involve an adorable little girl and fuzzy baby animals. The software giant is capitalizing on the success of the spots it ran earlier this year featuring Kylie, the precocious preschooler. This time, Kylie makes her very own slide show, featuring pictures of animals along with reviews of the new operating system from magazines and bloggers. “More happy is coming,” Kylie promises, as the screen flashes the October release date.

I love all of this cuteness and optimism, but what has me scratching my head is the campaign’s strategy. Why would Microsoft launch this spot on a minor network on a night that’s been referred to as the “primetime graveyard,” as opposed to launching it during, say, Monday Night Football, when it has an audience with actual buying power? Stay tuned.

Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger who is in search of her next opportunity. Contact her via Twitter, LinkedIn, or her blog.

For the past few weeks, there has been a lot of of talk about the Palm Pre spots by Modernista! – ranging from creepy, annoying, and bizarre to genius. Face it, you’re still talking about these otherworldly spots. However, some critics have brought to mind the possibility that the commercials aren’t effective, especially since there is hardly any mention of the phone’s functions. Despite the campaign’s shortcomings, the stunning visual effects are not to be missed. The key is getting past Canadian actress Tamara Hope’s nonsenciscal ramblings about deja vu, clowns, and juggling.

I really want to like this campaign, if nothing other than for the originality of it, but it doesn’t tell a story and it doesn’t really sell the phone, either. It just makes me feel weirded out. For example, in one of the spots, Hope tells viewers that she feels her phone can read her mind and recalls how a man once asked her, “Does it know you’re crazy?” “Well of course it does, sir,” she says, “It’s mine.”

Does crazy sell? I don’t remember learning that in my advertising classes in college, but I did go to a liberal arts, theater-focused school where crazy is embraced. But I digress…

What concerns me about this campaign is the soft focus on a product that is the first viable competitor of the iPhone. There are no mentions of the Pre’s operating system, which is a major advantage, nor will you see the spots as often as you do the ones from Apple (this may be by design). Despite cyber-blabber and blog entries about how people think the commercials are creepy and annoying, studies show that many viewers find the spots soothing and inspiring. In fact, the company is on track to sell 400,000+ units per quarter.

Huh… maybe crazy does sell.

Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger who is in search of her next opportunity. Contact her via Twitter, LinkedIn, or her blog.