'29 Things Young Designers Need to Know' Poster

http://kissmyblackads.blogspot.com/2011/03/29-things-young-designers-need-to-know.html

Normal

thanks for sharing penelope

Ikea Stonehenge directions

How to be a Retronaut

time-travel without a time-machine

 

Ikea Stonehenge

…..
(c) QI Ltd / Faber.
Published in the QI H Annual. Written by Justin Pollard with input from John Lloyd and Stevyn Colgan.
Thank you to Justin Pollard, John Lloyd and Stevyn Colga

The Social Posters by Ryan Atkinson

From Kiss My Black Ads

see more posters

Student Post:Is the new 'Super bowl Save the Money- Tibet' Groupon commercial Racist?

by Leah, Deanna and Andrew

If you were one of the nearly 100 million Super Bowl viewers tonight, you would have caught a glimpse of this little gem; One of three controversial advertisements for the newest social savings group, Groupon.

Upon airing, a few people in the room with us gasped and cried, "that was so racist!!"





Now, most of us can agree the commercial was insensitive in it's humor, but we argue the point that it was not, in fact, racist.

The spot begins like a human needs awareness piece but is quickly revealed to be a sad attempt at self-mocking humor. By starting the spot off to pull at your heart strings, we are jolted awake when we are welcomed to join the "host" in indulging our money saving desires over our impulse for empathy. When he continues to cite the amazing savings you can get with Groupon on delicious Tibetan food, despite the political and socio-economic horrors of the Tibetans he JUST explained, we are left feeling empty and selfish about our care for saving money on such frivolous things. Although they are both true, by putting these two realities together, the commercial undermines both.

Now, the blatant labeling of the Tibetans as restaurant owners or as an always suffering people is a generalization, but we do not believe it to be racist. It is not judging Tibetans, nor making sweeping, simplistic statements about them as a culture. It's worst offense is bad taste and a poor combination of a serious topic and a mind-numbingly, short-sighted humor.

Student Post: Intel's Racist Ad

From Leah, Andrew & Deanna

 

 

 

This print ad showing six athletic black men bowing/in the running position for a business causal white guy is innately racist. The headline is more or less saying that you want to maximize the power of your employees, except the employees look like slaves.It seems like whoever was making the ad just took one person and then duplicated it six times which might be easier for production reasons but the lack of diversity in workers makes it seem like only black people are workers. While yes, it seems kenyans always win the marathons you cannot make a print ad like this and having a 6:1 ration of black workers to white boss without raising a few eyebrows. All and all I would call this a failure on Intels creative side. 

Student Post:

by Christian, Zorica + Luong,




Volkswagen.
Did they really do it? Apparently yes.
Volkswagen brings out this viral spot, featuring a very special testimonial:
An Arabic terrorist, already wearing his explosive vest.


The terrorist drives it’S VW Polo to a crowed place in a city and blows himself. But as he’S
doing that in his very tough car – nothing happens.
The car is absorbing the explosion.

Besides the fact, that suicide attacks are a way to serious topic and shouldn’t be used for
one single and cheap middle-class joke – especially nowadays it’s very disrespectful against
the families of suicide-attack victims.
This is one and probably the strongest reason, speaking against the VW Polo ad.

But there’s another big problem with this commercial.
It’s stigmatizing Arabic people as terrorists.
After 9/11 the image of Arabic/islmaic persons in the public was bad enough due to
terrorism-related prejudices.

What do you think? How far are spots like this one influencing our view or our feelings
concerning Islamic persons ?

Inspiration: The Daily Booth

http://dailybooth.com/

The site mentioned in class where people post daily photos.

"DailyBooth is a great place to document and share your life with others. Whether you're keeping in touch with family and friends or making new friends around the world, it's important to do your part to keep DailyBooth fun and thriving."

Great or Poor ad placement?

Yahoo!'s bus-shelter games start city rivalry

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2011/01/yahoos-bus-shelter-games-start-city-rivalry.html

Yahoo! is ratcheting up the inter-neighborhood competition in San Francisco by installing interactive, 72-inch touch screens at 20 bus stops and encouraging people to play against crosstown rivals in live head-to-head social games. The four games range from visual puzzles to trivia competitions. Each neighborhood gets 100 points for a win, with the leaderboard updated in real time at BusStopDerby.com. (North Beach, Tenderloin and Mission are at the front of the pack currently, with Hunters Point, Hayes Valley and Noe Valley bringing up the rear.) The competition will last for two months, with the winning neighborhood getting a concert with OK Go. Via PSFK. Photo via.

Snafu!: Offensive Martin Luther King Sale Ad

from Adfreak

This year's most offensive MLK Day sale ad

By David Kiefaber on Jan 20 2011

Where do you start with this one? A surf shop in Laguna Beach, Calif., is in trouble for this sale ad celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier this week. So, which is most offensive—Photoshopping his face on to a surfer; offering a 20 percent discount on all black items in the store; or putting the headline "Respect" above this disaster? I know, tough call. "It's our slow time of the year, so we're always getting creative," the store's owner, Nick Cocores, says. A little less creativity would be appreciated next time, Nick. 

Vintage Ads for New Technology

http://walyou.com/retro-facebook-skype-youtube-ads/

These ads remind me of the 6 Flags for Old People campaign two of you started thinking of.

Student Post: KFC & Stereotypes

by Penelope & Martin

A lot was discussed about this KFC Australian commercial. In the spot we see a single white cricket fan handing out a KFC bucket of fried chicken to appease a group of loud cheering black West Indies fans. 

Although it was intended only for the Australian audience it soon ran around the world through the power of the Internet and what was just a culture-based advertising for the Australians became a racist offense for the Americans. 

What triggered the outrage of the Americans was that fried chicken in the US is strongly associated with old racist stereotypes. A commentator on the subject in the Digg site says that the “southern style chicken is associated with the African-American culture from when they found it an affordable means of eating during the slavery period.” But reminding that the campaign was intended for Antipodeans only it has their own culture in the background and should therefore be interpreted accordingly.

On top of that, KFC is the global sponsor of the West Indies cricket team, a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries. Test Match cricket has been played between the West Indies and Australia since 1930. And it is a fact that most Caribbean’s are black and for sure not African-American.

Another important remark is that the expression “Too easy” used by “Mick”, the Australian team fan in the commercial, is one of the most said Australian expressions, used in multiple scenarios and it can be understood something like “no problem”.
 

What do you think? Does using West Indies as the “other team” makes the ad racist? Should “Mick” be black as well? Or should it be the other way around? But wouldn’t that be racist too? And most important, were the West Indies themselves offended?
It sure isn’t an easy subject and nobody should ever feel offended by anything. But how to know where our limits are?

Should You Work For Free?

(If it's for your portfolio and will help you get jobs & $ later - yes)

America by the Numbers

From NYT

Inspiration: Best of The Digital Decade Nominations

Click here to check out all the nominations

10 Things Marketers can Learn from a Multicultural Muppet

From: Kiss My Black Ads Oct 2010

There's been a big uproar over this cute little muppet singing about her curly coif. It was in a word; Illuminating. Not only did it hit home for many, it also pierced hearts. I've read more than one story of women crying when they saw it. Heck there was even one particular comedic, but manly, guy who blogged about tears coming to his eyes when he saw this. I waited for a reference to onions or something in his eye, it never came. He, like most, were really moved by such a public and innocent declaration of hair. But in the black community it means so much more. Hair and appearance in general is very connected to self worth and value. Mainly because it's been the sole reason we have been often times and still are ostracized. The creator of this song/video is the white Head-Writer for Sesame Street named Joey Mazzarino, and it took even him by surprise. The fact of the matter is; He did it out of love. Not because Sesame Street ran out of ideas or the end of the year budget had to be spent. It was because his adopted black daughter was beginning to feel the subtle negative squeeze of being a person of color in America & most of the world. This powerful message cleverly disguised as a singing muppet has so much to say and many could heed it's lessons. Here are a few things marketers could learn about the "MultiCultural" market from this little song & infectiously cute dance:

1. People of color in America are still dealing with issues of identity, self-love & race head-on and daily.

Race doesn't have to be a hurtful topic, it doesn't have to be uttered in hushed tones amongst like kinds. Sometimes it is hurtful, and sometimes helpful, but it's always present. Racial prejudices and biases are not the choice of people of color. The problem emanates from people with power. Power to craft advertising messages, power to allot funding and power to block resources. Some would like to imagine that race is a bygone issue until they have to navigate through it. It is daunting for us all. But most people of color try to make it easier for people who don't completely understand where the problem really comes from. So when marketers speak about investing in and moving towards multicultural models, they often miss the point. The identity and self-love problems are things people of color have to work out for themselves. The entirety of it may not be our fault, but it our charge. It is the seed of self-salvation.

2. Acceptance, total, unfiltered acceptance is still very important to these demographics.  Not some frat-boy filtered & accepted version of it. But the genuine, I'm - OK - You're - OK version of acceptance. Too often ideas have to run through either the Caucasian appreciation mill or the black white-guy mill for approval. As in; "Let (Black) Lester check it out, if he's not bothered, we're good!" Hello, many times Lester either went to school with you or has a similar school experience as you. Or Lester has carved himself and made "himself" small enough to be accepted by you in a way that does not offend you or the office culture. Basically he cannot say what he feels because: One, he may not know what to feel (in your presence, he too wants acceptance). Two, Lester feels exactly like you (good for a boring office, not good for interesting new ideas).

3. Something made from the heart matters. This industry drones on and on about passion, that ever present power-point topic -- passion. Yet when it comes to addressing what will soon be the most populace segment of the US -- Multicultural audiences we phone it in. The passion of Salsa music, Hip Hop dance or Ethnic cooking for that matter, never shows up in marketing pointed towards these audiences.

4. In-depth Knowledge of subjects and revelations move the crowd. Did you notice how Mr. Mazzarino gave the little muppet almost 10 different hair-dos? It's because he lives with this situation. Black hairstyles are vast and intricate. He knows it intimately. It wasn't just put into the hands anyone. Joey knew the subject and for what he didn't know; he sought expert council.

5. Knowledge doesn't equal Truth. Knowing all about a thing doesn't mean you understand the truth of a thing. You can know a lot about a culture or even have studied it. But every nuance doesn't make it into a book or your favorite movie that details a culture. Also the proper usage and context of applications maybe not even consciously employed by the users. This why we see so many marketing gaffes, knowledge is amassed and utilized in an unknowing or callous fashion that creates situations that don't even come close to the truth.

6. Appreciation goes a long way. One of the biggest clarion calls of this video is it screams acceptance. Acceptance of a people and their total packaging. There are so many things people are made to feel bad about through advertising. The comedian Katt Williams says, "All advertising tells you that; you aint sh*t." This video literally caught afire from the heat of positive affirmation and appreciation. It really goes further than that and this brings me to my next point.

7. Everyone wants and deserves to be celebrated. What's wrong with a little good old fashion celebration? Not necessarily in the "up in the club" fashion always, but some of the deep insights that ultimately shine the light on human goodness. In opposition to the thuggish stamp usually reserved for people of color in the media.

8. The psychographic outpaces the demographic. Even as the demographics grow and morph and turn the normal into the next, the census data alone doesn't put a finger on the new America. What we see in the public joy over this muppety goodness is a growing embrace of all things natural and cultivated. African American women in particular are forging a new sense of self. It's not just a natural evolutionary occurrence. This is a very calculated movement of their own volition towards self acceptance and up-liftment. In spite of what the social economic statistics may say, there is an underground swell of self-empowerment that starts online, in the head, in the heart and in the mirror. They are responding to a new voice. That voice is their own.

9. Put a lil paint were it ain’t. Try exploring places, things and situations where there has been previous reticence due to hurt or sensitivity. The best insights lie in the deepest recesses. And the most original concepts are yet to be unearthed due to fear of the unknown. In other words: there are places we fear to tread because we don't explore what is said to be unthinkable, things like the absolute truth. Companies and marketers are afraid to repeat the same truths that people profess on the internet everyday. It's way past time to say the things we all know are true. Having faith in your truth is powerful.

10. Love your hair. Even if the world says, "it's nappy, course, tough, unmanageable & a damned sight." You should respond, "it's a helix, just like the very stuff of life, you're DNA, It's like lambs wool, strong, free-spirited, a beautiful sight to behold, everyone is looking. Whatever people are saying about your brand or your service embrace it. Extoll the good, shine a light on all that is positive. And most importantly, just like hair, if it's growing in the wrong shape or direction, by all means, comb through the kinks, cut it off, reshape it, restyle it, redesign it, do the big chop, nurture it and then wear it NATURAL!

America's Population

"America is absolutely multi-ethnic; growing more so every day. Millennials, 40.2% of the population, are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation’s history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are Black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other.” PEW Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

Today 46% of the population under 18 is multicultural."

- Ad Age 2010 America White Paper

Links to basic population info

US population profile 2010
http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/natproj.html

Negative population growth
http://www.npg.org/popfacts.htm

US Census American fact finders
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en