An article in the press made me chuckle at first, and afterwards, made me think..
Ads featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington for a beauty product of giant L'Oreal were banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA stated the retouched images misled consumers by exaggerating the results the beauty products could achieve.
The advertising agency admitted the images had been "digitally retouched" to lighten the skin, clean up make-up, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows. Maybelline argued that despite the techniques used, the "image accurately illustrated the results the product could achieve".
"Bullocks", said the ASA, and both ads had to go. (Source)
So... I was thinking.. After The News of the World scandal where reporters hacked mobile phones, and bribed police to "ping" locations of people through the mobile network, maybe a movement started for more ethics in the press.
After all, think about it. How many ads do we know which are NOT misleading? Which washing powder does not claim it gives the whitest or most colourful garments? Which hamburger joint does not claim to give you the biggest, juicy-est? Which deep-freeze fish manufacturer does not claim their products go straight from the sea (ploop) into the deep-frost?
I always thought it would be fun to make a TV show challenging those claims, and confronting the company executives with the truth.. Would that not be worthwhile?
Pictures courtesy L'Oreal and Photoshop.
Read the full post...
They call it a "Captcha", a short for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" (I bet even the nerds amongst you did not know that one, did ya?).
Captcha's are used in places where users can leave "fast input", like in blog comments. To avoid automated SPAM-comments, you have to type in the letters/numbers before the blog accepts your comment.
Normally, the letters/numbers are random, but I just came across a blog where the input was "Ikea"... I wonder if it was a coincidence, or if Ikea would have been innovative enough to think of this as a new publicity outlet.
Maybe the next generation Captcha's will help us discover the real values in life. How about these future Captcha's?
Coca-Cola is healthy
Eating McDonald's is patriotic
The War in Iraq was Well Worth It
The economy is fine
Pollution is a Media Invention
So is Climate Change
Oil Spills are Natural
So is Arctic Drilling
....
BTW, the Ikea thing reminds me of a picture I've had for years, but never found the opportunity to publish. Think it is hilarious. Can't remember where I got it from.
Since a couple of marketeers started the One Million Shirts campaign, it looks like to be fashionable in the aid world, you have to write about it.
As I did not want to be left out, and "fashionable" is my second name, here is my blogpost summarizing my opinion about "One Million Shirts":
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
The discussion around MSF UK's controversial video sparked quite a lot of comments around the topic 'How do you portray aid and poverty' or 'How do you make people think about these subjects'.
So I thought it is a good idea to show another way. A way that touched me. Meet Emily Troutman.
Emily Troutman is a writer and photographer living in Washington. She just came back after a month travelling around Kivu, in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She made a video collage of her pictures, mounted it with some gripping music and appropriate text. Its simplicity took me in, and contrasted sharply with the MSF video we talked about a few days ago. Have a look for yourself:
I contacted Emily, and we had an interesting exchange:
Why did you make this video? Emily: It was a rare opportunity to give voice to an issue that at this moment only exists at the fringes of the mainstream media.
Was this your first trip to rural Africa? Emily: I also traveled with UNOCHA in the Gulu area of Uganda in 2006. I took some wisdom and knowledge from that trip into Congo. For example, I already knew what real poverty and starvation looked like, so I was able to pay attention to what could maybe be called higher-level needs, but are still urgent: space, pots to cook in, blankets. Of course in Congo, the biggest issue is safety.
What was different in the experience between the two trips, Congo and Uganda? Emily: In Congo, I generally saw less hungry people, but still some malnutrition, and a whole new complexity of issues facing internally displaced people (IDPs). In Congo, IDPs are still running in a way that they were not in Uganda in 2006. I was also profoundly impacted by the enormity of the jungle in Congo. My four day trip to Pinga, through an area where civilians and aid workers have been shot, really brought home the sense of danger that the Congolese face in simple day-to-day tasks like gathering wood, or walking to market.
These are areas where the authorities or even the people, are not always happy to see a photographer Emily: The DRC was a very frustrating place to take photos because the work I was doing was technically illegal. It is exceptionally difficult to get permission to take photos there, so most of the time when I shot, it was in IDP camps or traveling with UN MONUC escorts. I have a profound respect for those photographers who risk their lives to take photos of the military or shine light on issues like child soldiers.
But DRC.. So many have published stuff about the DRC? Emily: I recognized that Congo, like so many intractable problems, has a way of receding into the noise of daily life. Even for me, it became one of these world crises that are too far away and too foreign to matter on a daily basis. It becomes hard to summon the energy to pay attention. Like, why even look at the issue if I can’t do anything to help?
And did you? Did you help? Emily: I wanted to go, just so I could see. And ultimately, to decide if that experience of seeing and sharing what I saw could transform how all of us think about Congo, and more generally, the problems of “other people.” Although I have written and photographed similar issues in the past, Congo seemed uniquely overlooked, especially in light of the scale of its tragedy.
People talk a lot about “awareness” and “action” and “making a difference.” But honestly, this was not an aspiration of mine. I only wanted to be open to the moment and encourage those I photograph to also be open to me. The next part is like a witnessing, seeing what happens when two people enter a silent pact to tell the truth. I wanted to make the video because it is an easy way to draw people in; a photo doesn't ask anything of us except our attention.
You can find the stories behind the pictures, on Emily's blog. More of her work, you can find on on her website.
Seems everything is sold through sex these days. This Singapore Burger King ad promises "the Super Seven Incher" will "blow your mind away".
The smaller text reads:
Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER. Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with a single beef patty, topped with American cheese, crispy onions and the A1 Thick and Hearty Steak Sauce.
Did they forget to add: "Don't squeeze it too hard or the mayo will run off your hands"?...
This month, The Road we have Italy in the spotlight. Italy as in "the place I live in", as in "the place I love", but also as in "the place that makes me chuckle". Here is an example why:
Italian car maker Fiat apologised to China for a television commercial starring US actor Richard Gere. Fiat acknowledged it "could disturb the sensibility of the Chinese people".
The ad shows Gere, a long-time supporter of the Tibetan Independence Movement, drive the group's new Lancia Delta model from Hollywood to Tibet, where he and a child dressed as a Buddhist monk plunge their hands into fresh snow.
The slogan that runs with the ad is "The power to be different".
The Italian car maker stressed that its advertising had "never been driven by or based on political choices or by a desire to interfere with the internal political system of any country, especially the People's Republic of China".
Emily Troutman is a writer and photographer living in Washington. She just came back after a month travelling around Kivu, in the East of 
Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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