'Save The Children'

"Three ads for the Save The Children foundation were named winners at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for their powerful illustrations showcasing the statistic that "70 percent of abused children turn into abusive adults." These three ads show children who cycle through physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse. All abuse causes extreme emotional distraught regardless of how simple it maybe and statistics show that abused children typically grow to be abusive adults or they strive to make sure their children, or the children around them, do not get abused as they have. Now I will go through each of these photos with my interpretation of the meanings and display of the cycle of abuse.

 First we will start with the above photo.This is typically what people first think of when they think of a child that has been abused. Here you see the the youngest of the boys has spilled milk and his father is about to hit him. The boy cringes away and guards his face with his hands in a clearly, defensive manner. Through the cycle you can see that as he moves around the table the boy grows older. If you start at the youngest boy and work your way clockwise around the table you can slowly see him growing into an older and more angry man. You can see that he grows angrier and more aggressive through how the models have been posed.

Second we have another form of abuse that is a little harder to prove. This one is typically all psychological, mental and emotional. The only bruises from this one are emotional or the redness under eyes after a tearful night. This time instead of a boy it is a girl. The young girl seems to have cut the hair off of her doll and her mother didn't take it too well. Once again, starting with the little girl and going clockwise as she grows up, you can see her slowly grow into an angrier woman who later would scream at her own child.

The last photo at first maybe a little harder to read. Some may see it right away while others maybe slightly confused. As I understand this photo is about being sexually abused. You see the fear in the little boys eyes as he hides under the covers from an older man. You can see that the emotions that are shown as this boy grows isn't him becoming more of one thing but you see him looking scared. Then he looks upset or possibly in denial. The third boy looks withdrawn or sad, he is possibly questioning his life and what his going through his mind. Fourth you can see his looking very interested at his younger self. And lastly you see him as an adult looking as if he is about to reach for his younger self.

These ads get the point across and show, in a very dramatic way, the cycle of abuse. Comment with your ideas and comments.

A bit touchy: Next Week

Hello everyone! This next topic is a touchy topic and I want everyone to be well prepared for it. So below you can see the ad that has won awards for displaying the effects of child abuse through someones life and the cycle of child abuse. Because this has to do with children and abuse I find it to be a very touchy topic. So next week I will go through each of the following photos in more detail.
 

Location of photos

Cheat on your girlfriend.

"Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout."

Can we reread this please? Who says this? "Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout?" Why not, "If you won't cheat on your girlfriend don't cheat on your workout?"
This ad is disrespectful, to any woman! How could a company sell cheating? After an outrage on twitter Reebok apologized. But what does this say about their values? Do they really believe that cheating is okay? How do other people feel about this ad?
Comment with your opinions!! :D
Where you can find this ad!

Walking Away: Christoper and Dana Reeve Foundation

Let's change things up a little this week. My last posts have been all more controversial and all of those ads had a lot of negative feed back when first released. So today I am just going to give my opinions on a creative bus stop advertisement from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. In my weekly search for the perfect poster, commercial, or online image to share with my readers this week I found this:

 

What is not motivational about this? Every person who sits there seems to be in a wheel chair and then they just get up and walk away. It is creative, and not a typical advertisement you would see everyday. And even without any description you can have an idea of what the foundation does.

If you want more information visit the Christoper and Dana Reeve Foundation website.

Photo Link
Christoper and Dana Reeve Foundation Link

Goes Down Easy: Unlike some people...

In the early spring of 2012 Belvedere Vodka had an offensive advertisement of it's own.

After reading this you may ask yourself, "wait... is this real?" Yes, it is a real advertisement that was originally posted on social the media site Twitter. This tweet lasted an hour before it was taken down and another tweet took its place. The next tweet looked like this:

 

Yes it was an apology, but did it make a difference? How did people react to this situation?
The original advertisement had an instant reaction of people who felt that Belvedere Vodka didn't understand that where they went was to far. What about the people who have been raped? Even though it did not directly say anything about rape it is insinuated. The fear and shock on the woman's face show that being grabbed by that man was not something that she was planning or wanted.
But realizing what they did was wrong and working to fix it, that helps... right?
Well does it still help that the image was taken from a video of a voice over actress? Alicyn Packard sued Belvedere Vodka for emotional distress and unlicensed use of her image. (The video link will be below.)
This ad is wrong on it's own. It can take people back to bad memories in their lives. A lot of people find this humorous but it isn't funny if you were a victim before. The fact that copy right laws where broken for advertisement purposes makes it just a little worse. Because it caused harm, emotionally to a lot of people, but in particular one person who was stared in the commercial, unwillingly, was filled with embarrassment and emotional distress.
So here is the question for this week? Is it okay to have advertisements that suggest things that can cause problems for people who have gone though a real situation before (like being raped)? Also, how would you react if someone stole your image for an ad that caused so much controversy.

Huffington Post ReadingThe Times Reading
Video Photo was Stolen From
Belvedere Vodka Advertisement

Oreos "Come-out" and Support Love

On June 25th, 2012 Oreos "came-out" and posted the image above. It was simple but the meaning behind it was complicated. "Proudly Support Love!" and "June 25th | Pride" where some of the captions on this photo as it was posted across the internet. That's right, Oreos, and Kraft in general, proudly supported the LGBT community. They supported love whether it was homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, or transgender. Love is love.
This is a great topic for the day after "National Coming Out Day!"
So what were the reactions to such a bold and controversial statement? Some people loved it, some people hated it, some people didn't care because hey, Oreos are Oreos! When this image was originally posted it had 14,800 shares and 87,000 Likes. That is amazing! There was a lot of support behind this statement. But in everything anyone does there is always that one jerk who will try and tear it apart. Or a lot of people. After this was posted it was common to find comments like "I will never eat Oreos ever again!" or "Unliking page and the rest of the ‘kraft’ family products... i will not support a company with these views." Along with this negative feed back there was also positive feedback. As of December 11th, 2012, the Facebook post has accumulated more than 297,700 likes, 90,700 shares and 60,400 comments.
When asked about the post "a Kraft Foods spokesperson defended the Oreo image to HuffPost UK. "As a company, Kraft Foods has a proud history of celebrating diversity and inclusiveness," the spokesperson is quoted as saying. "We feel the Oreo ad is a fun reflection of our values.""
People tend to like companies with the same views so when Kraft "came-out" about their views on Same Love they gained and lost customers. But so have other companies.
Some of the other companies that have also "come-out" and have gained or lost some customers are: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Betty Crocker, Walgreen's, Levi's, Cheerios, Walt Disney World Resorts, Starbucks, Tide, Pepsi, Crest, Girl Scouts, Target, JC Penny, and Ford. These are just a few of the companies I found that support the LGBT community.
What are your opinions? Should people alter where they shop in order to show their opinions on other people's lives? Should companies have views on things like the LGBT community?
Comment with your ideas! :D


Image: Image Link
Articles Read:AdWeek
Huffington Post
Know Your Meme

oreos: to be continued

Ever see an ad that completely changed you view on a company or name brand? Well so have I.
Summer of 2012 Oreo had an extremely advertisment!
Read about it in the link below, comment your thoughts and then tune in next week to read more opinions on it!
Gay Pride Oreo Ad. Link

Sexual Assault: Your friend could have prevented this?

Yes, this is an advertisement from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board suggesting that a victim's sexual assault was not her fault, was not the rapist's fault but a friends fault. The worst part of this ad is that the image (that of a women on the bathroom floor with her undergarments pulls to her ankles ) not only is graphic and suggesting but it is also a reminder to all victims of sexual assault. Many victims saw this advertisement and relived there own traumatic experiences.
SO what is the point of this advertisement? To stop people from taking that next drink. Not to prevent date rape, or rape, or to promote a "buddy system" when out about the towns. It was to prevent the "next drink." There are hundreds of scenarios that they could have gone with. Personally this advertisment is in poor taste. Yes, date rape happens. But there are better ways to get a point across about alcohol. If it was a direct advertisement just saying to be careful when out and stay with friends that would be different. But this, this is distasteful.
Fortunately, after a lot of complaints, from victims of rape, this campaign ended.

Who 'Deserves to Die?'

When these posters popped up in large cities across the US it caused a stir. What did the posters mean? Why are they everywhere? Who says that these people deserve to die! Not one person DESERVES to die! And who is supporting such a poster? Is it an actual company or is it a group of teenagers starting a ruckus?
After seeing these posters with a quick Google search you are brought to a website called NoOneDeservesToDie.org with a countdown to when the "killer" will be reviled.
The website said, "Every year over 160,000 lives are lost to a deadly disease. They didn't ask for it, but many people seem to think they deserved it. This disease doesn't discriminate. It affects almost all of us and it's showing no signs of slowing down. So, what is the killer? You'll find out soon enough."
So who is this mystery killer? What is it and why do some people feel like death is deserved because of it?
Lung Cancer
A cancer... people have thought that someone deserves to die from cancer? No this was an attention grabbing way to show that people don't deserve to die ever. It fired people up. It had people looking for answers. This advertisement was successful for drawing attention!

Cheerios - "Just Checking"

Today I went through my fun list of all of the advertisements I want to share within the next few weeks. A few are more well known then others so I figured I would start with one that surfaced earlier this year.

Cheerios. What is the controversy here? Some may not even notice. Most probably don't notice at all. And then there are the remarks that were made on the original YouTube video. So many remarks that within one day the video's comments section was taken down.These remarks where about the fact that the little girl's mother was white and her father was black. A bi-racial family. With in the last two years bi-racial families have became more then twice as common. So why would this be a problem?

Is it a problem?

An article written by Ken Wheaton, on June 05, 2013 ("Turns Out Americans Love 'Controversial' Cheerios Ad: Perhaps Racist YouTubers Not Representative of Country as a Whole"), discusses how the commercial was taken by different people. He had said that "According to Ace Metrix, the ad -- created by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York -- "appealed to all age/gender demographics with the exception of males over 50."" This does not surprise me at all. The generation of males over 50 seem to see things like that differently then the younger generations of people. 

The other comments that I have heard from the video have shown support and kudos to Cheerios! One man said, "It's a cute commercial that I would not have thought twice of. Can't believe a bi-racial family would even draw any attention in 2013. People need to get out more often."

A lot of "Thumbs Up" on YouTube and videos being shared on Facebook with the reactions of children with the caption "There is still hope for the next generations" (link to that video will be below as well) These things show that there is a strong support behind the commercial and a smaller group that is "bashing" it on YouTube.

So what are your opinions on this commercial? Share all of your opinions in the comment below!

Commercial Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kYofm5d5Xdw
Article by Ken Wheaton Link: http://adage.com/article/the-big-tent/turns-americans-love-controversial-cheerios-ad/241869/
Time's Article Link: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/31/watch-cheerios-commercial-showing-biracial-family-riles-haters/
Child Reaction Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VifdBFp5pnw

The first of many: The girl behind the posts.

Why hello! How did you get here? I have no idea but some how you found your way to my blog. You must be confused and not know what you will be reading. Well it is in the description.



Why? Well I am a graphic art/communication double major in college. What am I going to do with that combination. Hopefully I will be following my passion in advertisement design. For now though I am in classes and working on my degree and doing this blog for my New Media class.