Inappropriate chain gang teddy bear is inappropriate

Yesterday, my wife and I were taking our son to his swimming lesson at the City of Ottawa's St. Laurent Complex when my better half spotted something rather weird.

Can you spot it? Here's a closer look:

Her first comment was "is that a monkey in a Department of Corrections orange jumpsuit?" but closer inspection proved it to be a bear. A brown bear in a Department of Corrections orange jumpsuit with a chain around his ankle.

Sad Croc Monster will haunt your nightmares

We were picking up new shoes for our son at Kiddie Cobbler when I noticed this awful beast out of the
corner of my eye. As soon as I stopped shitting my pants in sheer horror, I wondered why the hell any person in Crocs' marketing department would think this awful thing would create any kind of positive brand association with children. That is, unless the brand promise is "I'm going to eat your face when you fall asleep, if you even sleep again."

There is a certain pathos to the horrible creature, however, similar to Frankenstein's monster. So I submitted it to Meme Generator:

We'll see what the internet thinks.

The Amazing Spider-Pram: Redefining gendered toys

(Image via Fru K blog)

This image, from the recent toy catalogue of Swedish retailer Leklust, is getting a lot of play on social media right now for its image of a kid in a Spider-Man costume pushing a pink doll carriage.

As reported in The Local, Leklust CEO Kaj Wiberg told Metro, "Gender roles are an outdated thing... I'm 71 years old, and those of us who have worked in this industry for a while know that boys play with doll houses. We know that boys can play with Barbie dolls."

The catalogue has other non-stereotypical images as well:

Nice to see. I'd love to see more of it.

Kargo Kids: A segregated "VIP" section for kids on WestJet flights

From the press release:

WestJet today introduced Kargo Kids, an exciting new program allowing guests to travel on select child-free flights, creating a quieter and more relaxing inflight experience, while children travel in a "special VIP" area of the aircraft. 

"As Canada's low-cost airline, we are constantly looking for innovative and fun ways to enhance the guest experience," continued Richard Bartrem. "The initial feedback on Kargo Kids has been quite positive and we're looking forward to the peace and quiet while we get families where they need to be."

Thanks to Kelly for the tip :)

Wes Anderson makes an ad from the wonderful mind of a child

Every PD day at school (a school day when teachers do professional development sans students) I bring my son to the agency. As a result, he has grown up helping his dad make ads. Usually they're about environmental issues. And sometimes he comes up with the most marvellous ideas, like saving money on energy bills by having a tank full of electric eels generating electricity in your basement.

Wes Anderson, McCann Worldgroup and Sony took the amazing resource of unfettered childish imagination a step further when they produced a high-budget TV ad written and narrated by an 8-year-old actor from Long Island named Jake Ryan:



According to AdWeek, Wes Anderson discovered Jake and his magical concept after holding interview sessions in New York, Los Angeles and London, and asking more than 75 kids what they thought goes on inside Xperia phones.

As professional adult creatives, we can only dream of recapturing the absolutely wonderful and unexpected ideas kids have every day. (I guess that's why there are so many substance abuse issues in the industry.) After watching this, I'm starting to wonder if we should hire my little guy full-time.

Full credits at AdWeek.

How young is too young to model?

In these days of Toddlers & Tiaras, it's easy to think that our media-saturated, image-obsessed culture has lost the sense to let prepubescent children get a pass on commercial sexual exploitation.

Well, one person has stood up to sexualized fashion images of young girls like Kaia Gerber above, who is only ten, appearing in a Young Versace campaign earlier this year.

Her mother has had enough. While she originally told fashion press she was "so thrilled" that Kaia was chosen for such a prestigious assignment, she has since had second thoughts. She has gone so far as to forbid the girl to model until she is at least 17. “At this point, she's too young to pursue a career," the mom explains. "There aren't even a handful of jobs for a 10-year-old girl. But if she's 17 and wants to try it, of course, what can I say?"

Great decision, Cindy Crawford! You see? Some models are actually quite smart and grounded.

Another creepy campaign against sexual abuse of children

I saw this ad on I Believe in Advertising. A little Googling got me two more, in original Portuguese, from Creative Society:

They are all very upsetting as they should be, given the subject matter. But somehow I often find the effort to find creative ways to express the issue just end up creeping me out without adding to my awareness of, or concern for, the issue. It's as if the agency is exploiting tragedy for PR.

Is that too harsh?

F'd Ad Fridays: All parents should have to go through... what?

Look, I get what they're trying to say. But that picture is all kinds of awkward. To put it mildly.

Via Ads of The World

New condom ad rolls out an old idea

This condom ad by Marcus Thomas, in Cleveland, brings back the old "parenthood is a nightmare" gag that seems to appeal to younger singles.



The problem is, it's been done before — by a much better ad.



The only advantage of this new ad is that it brings a unique product benefit into the mix. But hearing about penile sensation while watching screaming children is not exactly a great viewer experience.

Via Ads of The World

Georgia's "fat kids" campaign: wake-up call or useless guilt trip?

Annie at Fuse Communications sent me a link to this Georgia childhood obesity campaign from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, asking for my opinion. It's a tough one.



The brutally frank ads target the parents of overweight children, who are thought to be either unaware or in denial about how their children's diet and activity choices affect their health and self-esteem.




According to ABC news:

"Children's Healthcare of Atlanta chose the straightforward approach after its survey of two towns in Georgia found that 50 percent of parents did not know childhood obesity was a problem and 75 percent of parents with obese children did not think their child was overweight."

But here's that defensive processing dilemma, that keeps showing up in social marketing campaigns. Negative portrayals of viewer behaviour tend to make  the target market turn away, rather than mend their ways, and can even backfire.



The issue of parenting is an especially volatile one. Try having a civil conversation about breastfeeding versus bottle feeding, infant male circumcision, or co-sleeping with a random group of parents online. You'll end up with a flamewar.

Diet and fat-shaming is another one of these issues. While parents need to be aware that their obese and/or inactive kids need healthier habits for their own sake, when you criticize someone's parenting you really hit them where it hurts most. I expect this campaign did exactly that.



From the original article:

"Blaming the victim rarely helps," said Dr. Miriam Labbok, director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "These children know they are fat and that they are ostracized already."
...
"While guilt and fear are motivators, they have to be meted out with the answer to the situation," Labbok said. "The ads with the children do not offer help to them."
According to health communication experts, successful public health campaigns offer a clear call to action. Labbok says the Georgia ads address the problem, but don't give viewers a clear solution.

So what's the answer? Social marketing theory says positive modelling is the key. But positive modelling takes a long time to be effective. All social change does. It's understandable that Children's Healthcare of Atlanta chose a more confrontational approach, because they can see that it is an urgent public health crisis. But then again, so is smoking (especially around kids), alcohol dependence, and a general lack of concern about buying, cooking and eating healthy food.

None of these problems is going to be solved quickly using the blunt instrument of guilt advertising. All that does is preach to the choir, making impatient activists feel better that something major is being done.

No matter what people tell you, ads can only do so much. This is a job for doctors, nurses, educators and community leaders to take on, full-time, for the next 10 or 20 years. It's complicated, slow, and will not win anyone any awards. But it's what has to happen for real change to occur.