On Andrej Pejic Modelling Bras

I love Andrej Pejic, fashion's top crossdressing supermodel. Say what you will about him being the runway's perpetual media stunt- I love him. Not only is he incredibly brave for doing what he's doing, but he's gorgeous. And his build is absolutely perfect for high fashion (considering that all the clothes are made to fit 5"11 models with no hips or chest whatsoever). Whether it's a good thing that a slender man fits the womanswear model body type better than the women is up for debate of course.

zfashionblog.com

Now... (Drumroll please)... Andrej is modelling super push up bras! Dutch retailer HEMA may have struck gold with this campaign idea. Not only is he a beautiful model, but featuring a man in a bra has really started a buzz about the ad in the advertising and fashion communties. Also isn't it clever saying that these push up bras are so effective that they even give a man a bust?? I wonder how these ads would have fared here in North America though... I'm not sure consumers would have been quite as accepting.

On No Regrets Marketing

Source: Reddit.com

So I came across this ad for electronic cigarettes, originally from a Rolling Stones magazine. Obviously it's saying that sleeping with an overweight girl is something you should be ashamed of (but you're a man so you aren't, HAHA!). If you think about it, the issue of obesity in all its forms is almost uniformly cut out of advertising, unless it has to do with making you feel like you should improve (oh those never-ending Jenny Craig commercials). But it's certainly not something that is ever joked about, like the "useless husband" stereotype. Actually, overweight guys are kind of acceptable on TV (I'm thinking King of Queens, According to Jim) but you will NEVER see a fat woman with a handsome guy. I hate that fat, immature husband and smoking wife trope.

Is it clever to associate your product with something that men find stereotypically shameful (as seen in all the TV shows EVER)? Maybe they figure that some guys find electric cigs embarassing anyway, since they're a little less manly than the real thing (you would never see Clint Eastwood with an electronic cigarette clamped between his teeth), so may as well try to make it work for the product. I think the message of the ad is something like "Well sure, you'd normally regret sleeping with a "fat chick" but when all is said and done, you still got laid". The marketers are implying that you should do what  feels good or is good for you (like smoking an electronic cigarette) regardless of what your friends say.

Still. Does this image really make guys interested in the product at all? I don't really think it would. It's going for humour but I don't think it's the right kind.

On Breaking the Barrier Between the Outside and Home

Do you think using scare tactics is a great way to get customers? It's definitely a way to get their attention anyway.

Last year ADT, a company selling home security systems, launched a "brilliant" marketing campaign in Santiago, Chile. Spring loaded boxes were folded and slipped under doors then, inside the home, these boxes would spring into shape, appearing as though they had been left behind by someone inside the house. On the front of the box was the statement "Breaking into your apartment is easier than you think" next to the ADT logo.

This was obviously pretty risky, but was it effective? Most home security companies tend to take the same road- advertising like life insurance companies and just trying to be somber enough to get attention. But consumers who don't think they are at risk are pretty likely to just tune out the message. This way at least, there was no getting around the ad, since it was sitting pretty glaringly behind the consumers' front door.

But is it a breach of privacy? Could it have made consumers feel threatened for more than the obvious reason- that they were at risk of burglary? While I do think that this campaign was ingeniously creative, I'd like to make a note that this probably scared a lot of people. If it were me, I'd be frightened at the thought of a company entering my private sphere, although I know they do it in much less obtrusive ways. There's a lack of thought about subtlety here.

On Edmonton's Own Ad Scandal

So, the big news here in Edmonton is the below advertisement, from Fluid Hair Salon. It was actually created and launched a year ago, but was only caught by bloggers and made big in the last couple days. Since then, women's rights groups in the city have been up in arms, and it's not hard to see why.

A well-coiffed woman sits on a chair in front of a frightening Dexter-type man, sporting a nasty looking black eye. The caption "Look good in all you do" implies, sort of, that as long as she looks good eventually, with a shiny new necklace, abuse is just fine. It's a risky and dark ad, and I personally don't think that a salon should be touching this subject with a 10 foot pole, but that's just me.

However, up until now I'll admit that I wasn't that interested or insulted by this little controversy. It was a very misled "artsy" ad that never really got big before now, and in a way it actually does some good by bringing needed attention to the issue of domestic violence. 

What actually got me intrigued is that somewhere out there, someone was mad enough to vandalize the salon. Here are a couple pics from CBC:

"This is art that is wrongly named violence; that was violence wrongly named art!"

It's sort of poetic.

On Midsommar

It´s Midsummer here in Sweden! It´s as big as Christmas but it seems to be mainly an excuse to drink. Since I´m off to enjoy a midsummer bbq I leave you with another video (cop out I know), but I promise to write a real post soon!

This an IKEA commercial for Germany, making fun of the poor Swedes. Apparently this was banned...

On the Vancouver Riots

Pictures from identifyrioters.com

The riots in Vancouver were news here in Sweden, and I imagine all across Europe. I am so very ashamed that my favourite city in the world is being represented this way to the world. Doesn't it look like an apocalypse? The saddest thing about the situation is that it's so senseless. It's not a revolution, it's not anger at the government, or even at another group of people. It's just senseless anger and destruction and there's no point beyond that.

The man in the bottom picture taking a swing at someone is actually a hero. Here's the video of him trying to stop rioters from burning a truck, when all of a sudden he is attacked by a man behind him and he punches him back (that's this picture). At that moment a mob of maybe 20 people jumps on him.

If you think you may know any rioters take a look at this site, and help the city identify them. Or just look at the photos of destruction and contemplate why alchohol + sports ≠ a jolly, good-natured time 

The Internet is for...Rage?

How good does it feel to find something on the internet that you can rage about? That reinforces your previous preconceptions and prejudices of the world, of a group of people, of a company, of one person specifically? But how likely is it that this is just a hoax or an exaggeration meant to rattle up some righteous anger?

It's very very easy to be deceived by the internet (okay, not such a news bulletin), and it's interesting how much more likely people are to believe something they've seen or read on the internet from an unknown source than something they've been told in an advertisement. I think this is because people understand the motives behind advertising and are suspicious how they are being played for revenue, and because a lot of advertising in the past has been dishonest. But at the same time, companies are accountable for what they present to the public, anonymous internet users are not.

But take this interesting hoax that just broke over the weekend (yes I'm late)

This picture started circling around the internet and twitter.

This turned out to be an obvious hoax, having originated about a year ago from the 4chan forum site. The whole hoax never became as big as it could have, thanks to quick response from McDonald's. It convinced a ridiculous number of people though (and I will admit myself as well), simply because it's so fantastically wrong, so unexpectedly unfair, and against a strong company whose reaction would be very intriguing.