Through the eyes of a three year old: My name is Perle. A week before my third birthday, my parents gifted me a digital camera and this website. These are the photographs that I take with my camera.
Åsk Wäppling, my mom
The list of 10 by 10s lists (so far).
Because I want to keep track.
Not done yet, but I need to get some sleep. :)
<!--break-->
I was just Skyped by Frank Garrett (or rather the recording)
I overslept today, and as I stumbled into the office without having touched my coffee yet I see my skype bouncing "Incoming call - Frank Garrett". I scrambled for my headphones and answer the call. Why do I answer calls from strangers? Well, I don't, Adland.tv does, I wait for people to state what they want since I've gotten plenty of really strange calls. "Hey, how are you?" says a voice and I act cagey because, well, I have no idea who this is and the conversation is a bunch of choppy little pleasantries back and fourth, when I don't respond, there's long silences. "I can't understand ya", says the man and I correct my position, asking if he can hear better, to which he responds something else. A moment later, there it is again "I can't understand ya" with the same exact intonation, and at that instant I hang up, block the caller and tweet fantastic, I was just skyped by a bot. I might be over-stating the bot bit, as the recording could have been controlled by a human, but if it was a bot then that would almost be impressive.
Now, fully awake, I go on a hunt to see what this Frank Garret phenomenon is. (For the record, his skype name was either duncanconstruction2 or duncan_construction1 - there's dozens of Frank's and Duncan's on skype). Turns out it's some poor guy who has been crank called, and now the recording of his voice is being used to crank call others, a.k.a soundboard pranks. In jackulator forums a thread talks about how the real Frank has filed a police report, and how there have people trying to file reports on him. Yikes.
I guess all I have to do now is kick back and wait for the latest prank call to end up youtube, though I probably spoiled all the fun when I hung up as soon as I heard the repeated phrase.
The Duncan collection soundboard prank calls
by happypranksgiving
moral of the story: always have at least one sip of coffee before answering the phone.
update, whoah the uncyclopedia presentation of Frank Garret is fantastic.
<!--break-->
Hoaxvertising: when a story is faked, is the ad still good?
Have you seen Duval Guillaume's latest ad for Alfa Romeo yet? In it, they show a filmed story of how they lower a poster to the lowest point on earth (which it isn't by the way), to make a point about low prices. Oh, hardy-har, isn't that clever. No. It's a long way for a drink of water, and the only way it'll spread (as the agency hopes, I'm sure) is if the punters believe that they actually did this. Watch the film.
Alfa Romeo - Expedition 147: Alfa Romeo advertises on lowest point on earth.
At 01:51 they leave what seems to be a pretty big clue, to let some folks in on the joke: "It'll be crushed before it reaches the bottom" says a man who knows about pressure. Then they spend some time elaborating on how the special billboard is filled with water and such to avoid this faith. But honestly, do you really think they put a billboard at that depth, when all they had to do was make a cute film somewhere tropical instead (way cheaper). Not to be a bore, but environmental agencies tend to really dislike advertisers tossing billboards all over the landscape. (I recall some soda-pop brand fined lots of money for painting a mountain somewhere years ago, but I can't find my old adland post about it now.) Agencyspy even posted the question: Is Alfa Romeo's latest campaign a fake?
I've been a bit wary of this particular Belgian agency ever since the Schweppes fountains of effervescence. Their release, which Caff caught first and posted stated: "... fountains through European cities in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway" - a really random collection of countries (and no cities actually named) coupled with a bunch of large photos that could just as well be photoshopped. Is it Hoaxvertising, as I coined it in the 10*10 - top ten new ad spaces in the past ten years, or did they actually do it? When asked them point blank, they kinda dodged me. Other works from them could clearly be done, like the bowling hole stickers, and then the question only is how many stickers did they actually distribute? Does it matter, when every newspaper and blogs picks up on the story? Not really, they reach the eyeballs they might have missed on the street, via those who talk about it. And that is the idea of "hoaxvertising".
Just look at the success of the largest drawing in the world, where the student project shown had one part GPS, one part DHL and one part gusto. Stir, mix, make a credible film and toss it up on youtube and bingo - the world was talking about the idea. Erik Nordenankar who made it later clarified with bright red text on his project page that "This is my graduation project on advertising and graphic design at Beckmans college of design. This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time". Which was fine, since it still kicked ass as a graduation project.
Now that he's working at Mother though, and is the guy on the left in The Honest Christmas Spam film, one might start to wonder if this film is a real as it portrays to be. Wouldn't that be funny, if it was set up? I mean, with the name "honest" in the film and all. The conversation might have gone "Hey, Theo Delaney, wanna look like a hero and play a part in our christmas card idea? We're going to give ten grand to Forward Nigeria and thought you'd be the right guy to help tell the story."
Then again, nobody actually expects advertising to be honest now, do they? That's like expecting reality TV to be unscripted.
<!--break-->
My four year old now emails me.
I figured that the hand-me-down mac, spruced up with a shiny new Hello Kitty Keyboard and Hello Kitty Mouse would be a hit, and indeed it was (she even held her hands over her mouth gasping 'oooh!' when she opened the keyboard box) - but the killer app was a surprise.
KidZui is her social internet for kids-favorite right now, she even sends me emails.
Yes, my four year old daughter sends me emails. How cool is that? Right now she's showing me my little ponies that she's dressed up, and I responded by emailing her this.
<!--break-->
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ "url": "http://dabitch.net/bang/node/3116", "title": "My four year old now emails me." }, {button:true} );Blog reactionsNo reactions yet.That Shiny Suds commercial, and the Adverve sexism show
While I was off in Denmark busy celebrating "jul" a day early with the Danish family, episode 11 of the advercast went live. In it, we spoke about breeder bingo, salaries, bitchyness, sex and sexism and I've already summed up my thoughts here.
We also spoke about that Shiny Suds ad that was pulled for triggering rape flashbacks....and just to show off my embedding capabilities, here's that Shiny Suds ad we were talking about:
METHOD People Against Dirty - Shiny Suds - (2009) :70 (USA)
....also, I brought up the Panlegis advert debate, translated cliff notes and the ad with the near-naked santa helper is here, just so you know the ad was crap no matter how you look at it.
<!--break-->
Gowalla-beroende? Jomenvisst, sajber-stalking made easy. ;-)
Det var när vi var på väg till Amsterdam som Thomas ryckte fram sin ifån och checkade in mitt på bron mellan Sverige och Danmark som jag smittades av Gowalla-feber. Snart var jag också igång och checkade in på Beurs van Berlage under Eurobest 2009, och när vi kom hem till Sverige var jag ju tvungen att hoppa in i kaninhålet till Kina. Alla coola hoppar ned där, trust me. ;)
I jakt på en Beatnik Poet och en Golden Gift började jag checka in överallt, och om det inte fanns någonstans att checka in så skapade jag platser. Till exempel den Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Statens museum for kunst, Playblack, Stockholm, och Dance Studio no 1 men populärast är såklart Hemköp Entré, för vi måste alla äta.
Jag skapade en pytteliten plats för mitt kontor och tänkte, där checkar nog bara jag in, men oj vad fel jag hade, när jag såg att fetmange checkat in här kändes det som ett litet sajberinbrott, och när jag såg att han checkat in överallt där jag hade varit på den dagen han hälsat på i Malmö kände jag mig nästan lite sajber-förföljd. Han har 30 vaulted items, det är tydligt att han samlar på ting, och jag är ju lika fånig som springer iväg till Värnhemstorget enbart för att plocka upp brevpappret som Morpac lämnat där. Vill ni ha det så får ni komma hälsa på mig. ;)
Någon Golden Gift hittade jag aldrig, men Patrick Geuder den turgubben snavade över en i Good Old's kontor. Avis.
<!--break-->
Stuff I wished I'd said on that Adverve sexism show, part 2
Adverve show is now online, and as I was listening to it, cringing at my own voice I suddenly remembered a funny exchange that would have been perfect for the show.
One of my copywriters asked me with a straight face: Would you sleep with someone to get a job? I didn't even look up from my sketchpad when I replied "Sure, if I get it in writing ....and then I'll sue that motherfuckers ass off... Would you?"
Yeah, we split as a team after that. I'm still not sure if he was being serious or just joshing me, because dude, seriously? Did you just ask that?
<!--break-->
Christmas playlist.
I'll be taking some time off, tomorrow is the day before "Jul" here in Sweden, and since we also have family in Denmark, we're making tomorrow "Danish Jul" with all the wee ones eating too much candy and unwrapping gifts at mach3 speed.
Then the 24th, we'll have "Swedish jul" with the usual, eating reindeer heart, and watching the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Nope, I don't watch that Donald Duck show that I've already seen a bazillion times and everyone else in Sweden seems to be legally required to watch. When I moved to Sweden I didn't know about the tradition, cartoons were a rarity and Christmas was perfect as it had both snow and cartoons that I had been so starved of. Ever helpful dad with his high-tech gadgets recorded it for me and I watched that tape as often as I could the whole year. Come next christmas, I wait for the yearly cartoon and... oh no they didn't, oh yes they showed the same exact show again. Culture-shock! I'm still traumatized. Honest.
I kinda hate Christmas. but not so much that I didn't make a playlist for it. It's the anti-Xmas playlist. Enjoy.
<!--break-->
Talking about sexism in advertising on Adverve
It's about five-six hours ago that we wrapped it up now, me Bill Green of Makethlogobigger and Angela Natividad Live and Uncensored recorded show 11 for AdVerve (@Adverve) where we talk about sexism in advertising. Sexist ads, and sexism at the workplace. I'm still kicking myself for yet again not managing to be ...what's the word, oh yeah, diplomatic. I know that whatever I said on this topic will probably return to bite me in the ass sooner rather than later, each word chosen should be carefully so, but I've never been that good at filtering between what my brain thinks and what my mouth says. I'm pretty sure I cursed a few times too, oops.
I gave the full disclosure that yes, I am a feminist, no matter what other people may think this word means, to me not being a feminist is not possible. There are people who argue that the word "feminism" is excluding men by being a gendered word to begin with. Like I said on the show: Civil rights was already taken. That is what it is. I, as a female human being, should have the same rights as a male human being. Human being is key here - feminism is inclusionary, racism needs to end as well as sexism - basta. Despite all the progress that has been made since the civil rights movement truly sparked in the states, there's still blatant racism in the workplace and in advertising, something Hadji spoke about at length on the very same show. There are people who argue that 'extreme versions' of feminism tainted the word and it's so polarizing it overshadows any coherent argument one might make under its mantle. I've had pals argue with me that the word "humanist" should be used instead, since they know so well my stance on wanting equality for all in the human rat race. But it doesn't matter what word we label it with, to those who don't want to listen, it'll always be the wrong word. We could call it fluffycup and someone would turn it around to say fluffycup-nazibitches, I promise you.
I'm also kicking myself for not telling the rather ironic story of when I worked on a campaign about women's rights - as the only woman on the core team - with a household name brand. The work was web-only, so we only communicated via the phone and email. The job began in february, and for whatever reason, the deadline for the sitelaunch kept moving, first it was July, then September, then finally October 4. At that phone-conferance I informed them that I could not work as hard after October 4 as That's my probable due date. The meeting was cut short and the project leader called me up gasping rather agitated How could you not have informed us of this!? failing completely to see the irony of it all. I was rather cold and told him that I had accepted a freelance assignment set to end in July, so if deadlines had been held, there was no reason to inform him that I was pregnant.
I brought up something dubbed Schrödinger’s Rapist on the show, you should read the monster thread here at Metafilter: "Hi watcha reading?" for a full blow of women's experiences when we walk down the street to fully grasp what that helpful tutorial was trying to tell the Nice Guy™. The original post is simply trying to explain to Nice Guy™ why a woman may seem "cold" when approached in public. We've been trained by experience. Even just glancing through the monster thread you will see women from all walks of life sharing why they fear and get ever so angry about having to feel that way. It is in that light you need to view ads where women are the sexy half-naked decoration. It's from that point of view that you will understand why it hurts to see sexist ads, these ads are an extension of the harassing world I greet whenever I step outside of my own front door.
Sexist ads reinforce women being owned by other people than themselves, and to top it off these ads invade our home and our daughters brains. We shouldn't have to "lighten up", it's time people try to understand fully where the complaints are coming from. Those asking us to lighten up about it aren't looking at the full picture.
Are some people overreacting to some ads, when they are intended to be funny? I dunno, how many times will you have to hear: "You're cute when you're angry" before you completely loose it?
And, as I have argued before, these ads are insulting to men with brains too. Like one quipped under that post on adland "It practically screams "HELLO CAVEMAN WE OWN YOU WITH HORMONES". I've got news for BMW, my reptilian brain does not make expensive car purchasing decisions and I'm truly insulted you thought that it did."
Product as hero ads are really hard to do well, they always were. It's not just because products and services have become more complex, only the best creative shops did great product as hero campaigns. This is the holy grail to strive for. Selling without making a joke on someones expense is a great skill. These days it looks like adpeople aren't even trying sometimes.
Working in advertising isn't all that different from working anywhere else, women will be treated different in advertising because they are treated differently in the world. I brought up this study as well: Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling, to underline my point that salaries being lower for women isn't just because we aren't asking for higher pay. We know that when we do ask, we're labelled "hard to work with". I am, as I have learned, throughout the years, incredibly hard to work with. They said the same about my mentor Paul Arden, but of course when he was, it was cool.
<!--break-->
Stuff I wish I ad said on that sexism show, part 2
& more: That Shiny Suds commercial, and the Adverve sexism show.
Meeting Santa
Look at that, she's being all shy and nervous. What is it about Santa that is so facinating for kids? What she asked santa for: "An upsie-daisy doll and a dolls bed". No computer? You're getting a computer girlfriend. A Hello Kitty Keyboard computer, but it's still a computer. ;)
<!--break-->
