American Atheist ads fight one myth with another

What a strange strategy. American Humanist is launching this Christmas campaign in Kearny, NJ, Washington, DC, Cranston, RI, Bastrop, LA, Oregon City, OR, Bryan/College Station, TX and Rochester Hill, MI, this month.

The odd assortment of target markets is based on AH's list of places where self-identified atheists have experienced discrimination in their communities.

Here's the example from Cranston:

Jessica Ahlquist, a student at Cranston High School West, filed a federal lawsuit asking that a prayer banner be removed from the public school. The banner, which violates the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, includes the phrases “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.” Local authorities are asking that the banner remain.  

According to a story in The Providence Journal, “students and adults have called [Ahlquist] a ‘stupid atheist,’ an ACLU tool, a witch and a ‘media whore.’ They’ve also threatened her through e-mails or at school, she says. A former classmate told her that, if she knew what he really thought of her, she would kill herself, she says.”

These bullying incidents, by peers and institutions, shouldn't be tolerated in any case. The implication is that in very "Christian" areas of the US, Atheist-bashing is tolerated by the public.

But is this any way to address the issue? I don't think so. Because various atheist causes have been running anti-belief campaigns like the one below, they continue to brand themselves as "anti-God" instead of just free-thinkers. While the message that there are other atheists out there is not specifically anti-religion, it will be taken as such by the very people who hate them. And so on. And so on. It's a very American "us versus them" approach.

My solution? Lose the whole "atheism" label. It makes the lack of religion sound like a religion itself. If you want to get through to people, don't attack a deeply-entrenched belief that they have not come upon through rational discovery. You cannot argue them out of it.

You need to show them that you are really so "good without God" that you feel no need for comparison. Just be the individual thinker who you say you are. Lead by example in showing the true Christian values of compassion, humility and charity — as opposed to the false Christian vices of xenophobia, pride and social coercion.

F'd Ad Fridays: Hot little Italian number

This Fiat ad has been making the rounds of Copyranter, Adrants, etc., to a mixed reaction.



My reaction is not mixed at all. I hate it. It's offensive to both men and women, and manages to negatively (or positively, if you're a male masochist) stereotype Italians while it's at it.

Steve Hall disagrees:

"It's not offensive in an way, shape or form. It's just a true statement of fact: men are perplexed, dumbfounded and all out distracted when in the presence of a hot woman or a hot car. The ad is a dead on depiction of men and their relationship to women and cars. And that's just the way it is."

I guess I've just never felt a sexual attraction to a car. And I don't find the idea of being with a clearly insane women all that hot, either. I guess I'll be turning in my man card now. But I think this ad is stupid.

Also, the Cinquecento is a small car.

PETA wants Texans to rename their town along vegan lines

No shit:

Amarillo Texas -- PETA today [Nov 14] sent a letter to Pat Carson, the mayor of Turkey, Texas, urging him to change the name of his town to "Tofurky" in time for Thanksgiving. In the letter, PETA points out that turkeys suffer virtually every day of their lives, right up to and including their slaughter, and that eating turkey and other meats is an invitation to serious health problems. Tofurky, on the other hand, is a delicious and "meaty" comfort food, and it comes without the suffering endured by turkeys. To sweeten the pot, PETA has offered to provide the entire town with a full-course vegan holiday feast if the name change goes through. 

"Thanksgiving is murder on turkeys," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "By changing its name to 'Tofurky,' Turkey would send a clear message that delicious, savory mock meat is an easy way to celebrate without causing suffering—and give a bird something to be thankful for."

What's really awesome about this stunt is not the disingenuousness of the appeal, it's the reactions of the insulted townsfolk:



Nice troll, PETA.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering who Bob Wills is:



Tip via Newser

William Shatner serves fried turkey with ham

In the decades since leaving Montreal for Hollywood, the Shat has traded in his smoked meat for southern fried turkey. (As well as an October Thanksgiving for a November one.)

And State Farm has hired him as the spokesman for a PSA to prevent turkey frying fires:



It's long, but it's worth it to get every morsel of Shat's signature over-the-top delivery.

Via Adfreak

Why I hate these anti-SIDS shock ads

Shock advertising is on its way out in social marketing in general. But if there's one target audience that still responds strongly to fear, it's new parents.

Which is why this campaign by the City of Milwaukee Health Department (via Osocio) does everything I hate. It dramatically overstates a risk, increases the fear and anxiety of new parents (especially mothers), and it is a lazy bid for attention and/or awards by the agency, Serve:

Co-sleeping is one of those issues that really polarizes parents. On one side, you have the "rule follower" parents, who accept the risk-averse dictates of public health authorities who say that babies sleeping in their parents' beds are more likely to die. Then you have the "intuitive" parents who question these dictates, based on their own feelings and diverse cultural practices.

According to celebrity baby-care expert Dr. Sears, there is a third way to look at the issue: statistically.

"During the 8-year period of this study, about 34,000 total cases of SIDS occurred in the U.S. (around 4250 per year). If 65 cases of non-SIDS accidental death occurred each year in a bed, and about 4250 cases of actual SIDS occurred overall each year, then the number of accidental deaths in an adult bed is only 1.5% of the total cases of SIDS. 

There are two pieces of critical data that are missing that would allow us to determine the risk of SIDS or any cause of death in a bed versus a crib. 

How many cases of actual SIDS occur in an adult bed versus in a crib? 

How many babies sleep with their parents in the U.S., and how many sleep in cribs? 

The data on the first question is available, but has anyone examined it? In fact, one independent researcher examined the CPSC's data and came to the opposite conclusion than did the CPSC - this data supports the conclusion that sleeping with your baby is actually SAFER than not sleeping with your baby. As for the second question, many people may think that very few babies sleep with their parents, but we shouldn't be too quick to assume this. The number of parents that bring their babies into their bed at 4 am is probably quite high. Some studies have shown that over half of parents bring their baby into bed with them at least part of the night. And the number that sleep with their infants the whole night is probably considerable as well. In fact, in most countries around the world sleeping with your baby is the norm, not the exception. And what is the incidence of SIDS in these countries? During the 1990s, in Japan the rate was only one tenth of the U.S. rate, and in Hong Kong, it was only 3% of the U.S. rate. These are just two examples. Some countries do have a higher rate of SIDS, depending on how SIDS is defined."

What is going on here?

"Who is behind this new national campaign to warn parents not to sleep with their babies? In addition to the USCPSC [U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission], the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) is co-sponsoring this campaign. The JPMA? An association of crib manufacturers. This is a huge conflict of interest. Actually, this campaign is exactly in the interest of the JPMA."

I understand that many parents would rather not go against authoritarian advice when they believe it is a matter of life and death. I wouldn't advise them to. But my wife and I made the informed decision to keep our infant son in our bed. It actually made breastfeeding much easier for her, as she barely needed to wake up for night feedings. We believed it was far better for him, too, because he was fed at the first signs of restlessness and never had to wake up feeling abandoned and alone. (Dr. Ferber is an asshole, BTW.) And safety? We believed that it was far safer to have the baby with us, where we could directly detect and address any issues of respiratory distress, rather than trusting wireless technology to do it for us.

We also believe that SIDS has many causes, that are not well understood. Second-hand smoke, parental drug (including alcohol) abuse, poor nutrition, and suffocating bedclothes have all also been blamed. Breastfeeding, on the other hand, has been linked to lower SIDS rates. There are various explanations given for this, but I have my own theory: that close encounters with an engorged breast while feeding strengthens the baby's awareness of, and response to, the anti-smothering instinct. But I'm not a scientist. I'm just an adman who plays one on his blog.

F'd Ad Fridays: Turkeydogs against American Thanksgiving

The obvious answer is "because I'm not emotionally invested in a turkey I've never met and besides those freaky things look like some kind of mutant dinosaur that would eat me given half the chance."

Luckily, my Thanksgiving was last month so we slipped under the PETA radar.

Via AdFreak

Tea Party politician's ad says all Muslims want to kill Christians

“Do you really want someone representing you who swears an oath on a Quran? A book that undermines our Constitution and says you should be killed?”

These are the words of Gary Boisclair, who is running against U.S. Representative Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th congressional district. Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to the United States Congress.

Boisclair allies himself with the Tea Party and the anti-abortion movements, and calls himself a Christian.

Here is his press release:

“It is common knowledge that Ellison is proud to publicize his devotion to the writings
contained in the Koran. 

This TV ad references several verses in the Koran which call for violence against Jews
and Christians. 

The call to violent acts against Christians and Jews within this ‘holy’ book should alarm
every American. The fact that a U.S. Congressman swore an oath on a book that calls for
most of us to be persecuted is an outrage. 

The Koran is a pillar in Islam’s ‘Sharia Law,’ which is a comprehensive code of ethics
governing both the private and the public behaviors of all ‘good’ Muslims.  Sharia law—
as seen in dozens of Muslims nations—leads to the oppression of its non-Muslim
citizens, and the loss of fundamental human rights for all.  

The fact that Ellison swore an oath to uphold the Constitution on a book that would
destroy the Constitution is as ludicrous as it is absurd. 

We did not pick this fight; Islam’s war against Christianity and human liberty has raged
against us for 1400 years. We are merely responding with the truth."

The truth... hmmmm.

Wikipedia has Ellison saying, "The district I represent is the kind of district where you can have a Member of Congress stand up for religious tolerance and against religious bigotry, against anyone, but also stand up for the rights of gays too." Not exactly out to kill, is he?

On the other hand, if we're going to accuse people of blindly following every policy in their religion's holy books, let's accuse Boisclair of supporting things like this:

"And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

"I approve of this message"

 Okay, then.

Texas gun school spot may be the year's most idiotic ad

Everything's bigger in Texas. Even the assholes.

“If you are a socialist liberal and/or voted for the current campaigner-in-chief, please do not take this class,” Mr. Keller said in the ad. “You’ve already proven that you cannot make a knowledgeable and prudent decision as required under the law. Also, if you are a non-Christian Arab or Muslim, I will not teach you the class. Once again, with no shame, I am Crockett Keller.”

For some people, this kind of hate speech would be the kiss of death. But to this Texas gun instructor, it's just common sense:

“Why would I teach people who have sworn the annihilation of the United States and who can lie, cheat, steal and murder Americans in order to further Islam?” Mr. Keller said. “Why would I arm someone like that? Why would I enable them to carry a weapon legally? I don’t want to be a part of that. I’m sorry those flight instructors didn’t have the same hindsight to know that these guys were up to no good, and they shouldn’t be teaching them, and they should have refused.”

Where's his head? I think it's up under his gun...

The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating if this warrants him losing his licence due to breaking anti-discrimination statutes.


Via AdFreak and the New York Times

F'd Ad Fridays: Human rights for sale... cheap

George Takei's equal rights group shared a link that led me to this:

That's right. All you have to do is get five of your fellow citizens to throw gay people under the bus in the next election, and you'll be entered in a draw for a $100 Visa card!

According to Minnesota for Marriage:

"Recently, a bi-partisan majority of the legislature voted to place the Minnesota Marriage Amendment on the 2012 statewide ballot to ensure that the people of Minnesota have a voice on this important issue. Please join us today to preserve marriage!"

But the Minnesota Independent points out:

"Bribery, advancing money, and treating prohibited. A person who willfully, directly or indirectly, advances, pays, gives, promises, or lends any money, food, liquor, clothing, entertainment, or other thing of monetary value, or who offers, promises, or endeavors to obtain any money, position, appointment, employment, or other valuable consideration, to or for a person, in order to induce a voter to refrain from voting, or to vote in a particular way, at an election, is guilty of a felony."

So in this case, perhaps the "F" for this campaign could also stand for "felonious"...

F'd Ad Fridays: The race card is now in play for Cain 2012

For what it's worth, I think"Lynching", is one of those words that probably shouldn't be used outside of its awful historical meaning. It's like comparing your opponent to Hitler. It diminishes the awfulness of a really big issue just to make a cheap point.

I also love the irony: "That's what liberals do... they can't talk about the issues so they hit below the belt."

Ummmm... okay.

F'd Ad Fridays: I have a feeling the AD is really into ball gags

Toledo's HART agency took one rather creepy visual idea and rolled it out into a campaign of five for TARTA (Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority):

Via AoTW

F'd Ad Fridays: "Occupy", the #OWS colouring book, is amazingly bizarre

If it were just a bunch of spittle-frothed Tea Party rhetoric it wouldn't be of much interest. But this colouring book of the Occupy movement is so many kinds of bizarre all at once, it's actually kind of awesome.

  It even gives you an official get-out-of-guilt-free card if you're one wealthiest 1% of Americans.

From the publisher:

Occupy an American cultural phenomena reflecting who we are as a people and a nation! Great for the holidays, a fantastic commemorative book that makes an excellent gift for parents and children!

With millions of people around the globe watching "Occupy" unfold daily, parents, teachers, educators and simply "interested people" have asked for an educational piece that captures this culture defining event and moment in history. Accurately depicted in detailed line art and conversation the book includes modern and historical figures with quotations from Plato to O'Reilly, Hannity to Maddow, Obama to Boehner. There are pages dating back to the Robin Hood era, drawings of various parks, political views from every angle and a few surprises with imaginative satirical pages. Included are newly written "Occupy" songs, poems and games and a true to life "Guilt Relief Donation Form" for the overburdened 1%!
This is a coloring book novel designed around the "Occupy" event that reflects who we are as a people and a nation, including what the national media is saying and information on the event itself. The Occupy book is for parents and their children alike. Our company is grateful and happy to publish this new book. Inside you will find varying opinions and statements. On the Occupy event we are simply reflecting the nation in colorable pictures based on information and feedback we obtained from citizens around the country.
The high quality 36 page book has enough reading and coloring to last many hours. It's available at major book sellers Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks and always at ColoringBook.com. The book makes a wonderful conversation starter, a fantastic gift and it's a historical commemorative piece that will be around for many years to come. The retail price is $6.99.

Via Animal NY

F'd Ad Fridays: NutLiquor was named that way on purpose

Never, ever, put a 12-year-old boy in charge of your brand.

Its site claims it tastes "like the center of a peanut butter cup, with no harsh aftertaste".

It's produced By Pandora Spirits L.L.C. in Temperance, Michigan USA. (Yes, "temperance")

Via Gawker

Herman Cain ad parodied to sell e-smokes

Herman Cain's campaign manager, Mark Block, recently became an overnight internet celebrity for his bizarre delivery and cigarette flourish on a bizarre political ad.

There have been quite a few parodies since, but at least one advertiser has decided to try to make a marketing campaign out of it.



Smoke Stiks are "electronic cigarettes". They simulate the actions and (optional) nicotine fix of smoking (including creating the appearance of smoke). But they don't produce tar and all that other nasty stuff.



They do apparently, however, produce that freaky Cain smile...


Via Agency Spy

This stop-motion animation may put you off your meds

When I watched this the first time, I thought, "Cool video!  But I'll bet it's going to try to sell me some questionable herbal remedies."


Help Remedies - Take Less from Wulf Casting on Vimeo.

But it didn't. It's an ad for Help, a pharmaceutical company that claims to simplify the way we take medications for common complaints.

"Help® is a new type of drug company—a drug company that promises you less: 

Less drugs 

All of Help®’s solutions are made with a single active ingredient. Help, I have a headache, for example, contains only acetamin-ophen,whereas some other kinds of headache medicines may contain two or three active ingredients.  

Less dyes 

The drugs themselves are made with the fewest possible coatings and dyes. Many drugs are colored and coated for decorative purposes. Help® would rather people didn’t have to ingest decoration. 

Less confusion 

Each product is titled after the specific symptom it is meant to solve, e.g. Help I can’t sleep, instead of an unrelated brand name, so that people understand clearly what they are taking and what they are taking it for."

Interesting concept, "less/fewer" grammar outrage aside...

Ad by agencytwofifteen/McCann, San Francisco
Via I Believe in Advertising

A modest proposal to rebrand Ohio's "Heart Beat Bill"

Jezebel shared this irritating ad from Ohio ProLife Action about the State's controversial Heart Beat Bill :



It's not just the low production values, awful script, and nasally voiceover that I find irksome. It's the missed opportunity.

If you want people to visualize a "busload of children" being killed every day the anti-abortion bill (which bans termination at about about 6 weeks from conception) is delayed, you need to do more than show a bunch of home movie shots. You need to move people.

After all, just getting people to see a 6-week-old human embryo as a child can be a bit of a stretch:

Especially since up to a third of conceptions miscarry—80% of them within the first 12 weeks. So even Mother Nature isn't onboard with your mission to "protect all innocent human life".

No, if we're going to get people to back this bill we need to give them something to get their hearts and fists pumping. Don't just show the busload of kids. Show them at the mercy of a psychopath bent on their destruction. And don't just promote a bill, give the thing some personality and have it kick psycho ass and literally save the day.

You know what I'm getting at here? This story has been told before. You know who else saved a whole busload of embryos — I mean, children — in a single day?

Dirty Goddamn Harry, that's who.

Here (new window) is how that PSA should have gone down.

You can call it the "Dirty Harry Bill". Or the "Do you feel a heartbeat, punk?" ... umm, Bill.

It's got everything the religious right likes:

• Clear-cut good and evil (okay, Harry's a racist and sexist who wants all criminals dead, but those are virtues in some circles).
• Guns. They love their guns.
• Awesome funky soundtrack. (Just tell them it's a new kind of "Baptist Gospel")
• Innocent victims.
• Clint. (Although he is no longer a Republican, he was then.)

I really think they should consider buying up this footage. Either that, or mitigate high abortion rates by providing youth with harm reduction based sex education and really easy access to contraceptives, as well as by addressing the fundamental socioeconomic problems behind unwanted pregnancy.

Nah, definitely Dirty Harry.

Tip via Jezebel.

Is this the work of an agent provocateur?

No, I don't mean the people who do those awkwardly sexualized underwear ads. I mean this anti-pacifism screed that BoingBoing says is being circulated at Occupy Oakland.

I would say that the greatest threat to nonviolent protest is violence from within. Although I have seen those ninja-clad assholes who go to protests just to fight with cops before, part of me hopes this is just the work of an individual anarchist loonie. However, it could also easily be the work of a capitalist loonie who wants to discredit the protests. Either way, the Oakland people apparently weren't buying it.

Me neither. The copywriting is abominable.

Obama creating jobs by putting creatives out of work?

Adland brought to my attention a truly ironic move by US President Obama's 2012 re-election team: unpaid crowdsourcing for a new campaign promoting job growth.

From the Art Works site:

"Obama for America is seeking poster submissions from artists across the country illustrating why we support President Obama's plan to create jobs now, and why we'll re-elect him to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years.


Your poster can address the broader themes of the President's plan or pinpoint a specific aspect, from supporting small businesses to rebuilding roads and bridges for the 21st century. For more on the desired specs, read the creative brief.


We'll pick the 12 best submissions received by November 4th, 2011, then put the finalists to a vote. Three winners will receive a framed print of their poster signed by President Obama and a limited edition of their poster will be sold in the campaign store."

Here are a couple of gems from the "Creative Brief":

"You hereby represent and warrant that all equipment, materials, and facilities used to produce your poster are owned by you and were not provided by a corporation, labor union, foreign national, or federal contractor. Any disposable materials purchased specifically to produce the poster will be treated as in-kind contributions to Obama for America."

I'm sure this one is being violated repeatedly by people who cannot afford to have their own equipment outside of the office.

"All submissions will become property of Obama for America."

And for all that, here's what you win:

"Three (3) winners will receive the following prize: A framed copy of the Poster (defined below) signed by Barack Obama and all or part of the winner's Poster will be used and displayed on Sponsor's website and/or in other Sponsor advertising or promotional material (to be determined in Sponsor's sole discretion) associated with Sponsor's political advertising efforts (approximate retail value: $195)."

When a country's economy goes bad, the marketing industry — including ad and design creatives — is the canary in the coal mine. Companies in trouble tend to cut marketing budgets early on as they struggle to reduce the bleeding. Agencies lose revenue, then lay people off (or even shut their doors).

There is nothing creative professionals hate more than a paid work opportunity being given over to free crowdsourcing. The Obama campaign is well-funded, too — Adland says they have "$60 million cash on hand in campaign funding".

Creating jobs means supporting professionals who depend on a certain trade for a living. But this contest asks ll entrants to give away their work for free even if they don't get any credit for it. By undermining the value of concept and design, the Obama campaign has thumbed its nose at one of the USA's most celebrated industries.

And when you piss off creatives, you can get some very creative responses.

F'd Ad Fridays: Unintentionally fabulous vintage navy recruitment poster

This example is from a great post on Sociological Images, which points out, "Only after an active gay liberation movement made homosexuality more visible did people actually start to look for [the stereotypes] in people they knew."

Or did the ad artist play a big joke on all of us? After all, it is an ad asking men to go down for seamen...

Mexican restaurant takes shot at anti-immigration laws

Well done, Lime Fresh Mexican Grill of Orlando. Well done indeed.

Via The Consumerist

If you don't get it, read the news.