FEMEN invite the women of Islam to get naked with them

FEMEN are in Paris, demonstrating for Muslim women around the world to demand sexual freedom and equal rights.

   

The demonstration, themed "Allah created me naked" includes slogans such as "Muslim women let's get naked", "Nudity is freedom", "I am a woman, not an object", "Naked war" and "Naked truth". (They also hold signs in Ukrainian, French and Arabic.)

While their hearts are all in the right place, the show of solidarity also reminds me of this cartoon:

The question being whether sexual freedom depends on sexual display. I'm sure the women of FEMEN would agree that the choice of dress or undress is every person's individual choice — as long as they are not being coerced or brainwashed.

On the other hand, women from more oppressive religious Muslim societies who choose the route of nude expression, such as Golshifteh Farahani or Aliaa Magda Elmahdy (who is name-checked in body paint), face disapproval, banishment, and even physical harm.

What do you think of this message and tactic?

You can see and read more about the demonstration (in Ukranian) at FEMEN's Livejournal.

I'm sorry, but Banksy's ad rant is tiresome

My brother David shared this from This Isn't Happiness:

You can also see the text better here.

I can understand why people feel imposed upon by outdoor advertising, but it is hardly something new. Look at the sides of old buildings — in the late 1800s and early 1900s, advertisers posted their message on anything that didn't move.

Like many other modern consumers, I've learned to tune out the majority of advertising messages hurled at me from every corner, broadcast, and electronic interaction I happen upon. As an adman, I count on this numbness as I try to find new ways to get attention, gain permission, and inspire sharing among more sophisticated audiences.

But this anti-capitalism, anger and anarchy is tiresome to me. An ad is not "a rock someone just threw at your head" — in most cases it is just another piece of banal visual pollution in the urban environment. Somebody paid somebody else to create a message, then paid yet someone else to post it on their property. It's all within the law, as long as they follow guidelines for hate speech, etc.

If you want to see better standards for advertising, you need to take a more active role as a consumer — organizing to reward brands that contribute something positive to your life, and shutting out the ones that irk you. It sounds idealistic, but it's all we've got. That's why I spend so much time deconstructing and trashing what I see as irresponsible advertising on this blog. I think and expect that our industry can do much better.

You could also lobby local politicians to reduce the number of ad placement opportunities on public land. We already have that here in Ottawa. But I actually miss seeing some of the more interesting billboards that go up in Montreal and Toronto.

Revolutionaries are a necessary part of social change. And I know that offensive ads can and will get vandalized by Adbusters and their ilk (and sometimes I find it extremely funny!)

But there is a difference between taking an action that is civilly disobedient, being prepared for the legal consequences if you are caught, and claiming a moral right or even imperative to do so. The former is revolutionary. The latter, in my humble opinion, is just deluded and arrogant.

I still enjoy his art, though. As long as it's not on the side of my house.

Street-artist-turned-copywriter shouldn't quit his day job

Martin sent me an interesting link to an item about Scottish artist Robert Montgomery, who spends his evenings pasting over outdoor advertising with his anti-consumerist poetry.

Great idea, but I find the poetry kind of awful. It makes me think of an angry 19-year-old, who has just discovered anarchism, scrawling away in his notebook at Starbucks in the hope that the girl behind the counter will notice how deep and dark he is.

Too harsh? The other point against this work is that, while the artist admits he has vandalized billboards "without permission" before, these installations are authorized. (And even when he was doing it illegally, the police couldn't be bothered to arrest him.)

If you don't know me, you may assume I am trashing this stuff because I make my living in advertising. Not so. I love subversive shit. I just find this subversion forced, false and boring. If you're going to subject the public to copy like this, you might as well slap a logo on it and get paid.

FEMEN v. Millionaire Fair (Nudity)

FEMEN have made the jump to English, with this video against the Millionaire Fair, currently appearing in Amsterdam.


FEMEN Solidarity message to FEMEN Holland from FEMEN Holland on Vimeo.


According to the Millionaire Fair web site:

"In 2002, the organisers of the Millionaire Fair shook the little country of the Netherlands at its foundations by organising an event unparalleled in luxury and size. 'A fairytale for the affluent, a cornucopia for culinary fans and a feast of superlatives', louded the press. Initiator Yves Gijrath (CEO Gijrath Media Groep) and publisher of Miljonair Magazine, launched the idea for the Millionaire Fair on the basic theme of their magazine: 'The Luxury Lifestyle'.  

The Amsterdam launch paved the way for a great success. The next year, in 2003, the Fair quadrupled in terms of size and number of visitors. In 2005, the first international Millionaire Fair was held in Moscow. Since then, this glamorous spectacle has been conquering the world and the Millionaire Fair is known as the World's Leading Luxury Fair. A place where the top of the international luxury industry meet to present their most beautiful and exclusive products and services. In the past years the organisers received some very meaningful reactions by visitors, celebrities and exhibitors..."

Europe is in the middle of a financial crisis and, according to FEMEN, a women's rights one as well. Is there something inherently wrong with the rich carrying on like this at such a time? State your piece below.