Growing Bellies, Growing Ad Space??

More and more women are selling space on their bodies to become billboards for companies while pregnant. While some may say that it's empowering and allows women to earn much needed cash for the new baby, others (myself among them) thinks it smacks of prostitution in a way... esp. since it doesn't seem to pay that much. (One woman made $1K, or perhaps $111 for each month of her pregnancy.)

One mom-to-be thinks that her child will be excited to learn they were part of a marketing campaign, and has started a scrap book to share with the kid in the future. "Oh boy, Mom, I helped advertise a casino for nine months-- And we were only paid a thousand dollars?!"

Axe Body Spray: Time to Axe the Campaign.

By now you've all seen the ads for Axe Body Spray (and also Lynx in the UK). Some guy sprays the deodorant on, girls flock to him. There are varying takes on this premise (girlfriend's mother hits on the guy, girls smell the leftovers of the spray in other metal objects made from the recycled canisters, etc) but it's all basically the same: more powerful than a pheromone, it'll get you laid and quick.

At first, these ads stood out. Old Spice doesn't market like this. Right Guard doesn't market like this. But now the market is innudated with spots of women running after guys who wear this. At this point, even the guys are tired of it.

So... I'll admit it, it's nice when a boy smells nice. But I'm not going to jump him based solely on his scent. Axe, please, move on. I don't care if you won a Lion at Cannes this year. Put all of that angsty boy energy to better use, and maybe take a shower to rinse yourself of stench instead of just covering it over. Girls are pretty smart, we catch on to that.

Heck, for an alternative, check out how Mitchum's been pushing its deodorant. They have a highly effective campaign in the NYC subways which emphasizes masculinity, being a guy, being a cool guy, etc, without making women into creatures ruled by pheromones.

Coke continues to impress! Women directors, awesome spots.

Yet another new Coke spot (c0-directed by a woman) is out! Coke "Happiness Factory" was released yesterday-- a new stunner from production company PSYOP and agency WK Amsterdam. Check it out here on 'boards! [DISCLOSURE: I might work at PSYOP. "Might" as in "yeah, I do."]

The :60 tells the story of what happens inside the vending machine, after you drop in your coin (or these days, dollar) and before the bottle drops out. Kylie Matulick and directing partner Todd Mueller envisioned a whole community of original characters, each contributing to the bottle's production and quality. The design work is amazing, showing incredible imagination and detail. Believe it or not, the bottles featured in the spot are CG, just showing exactly how talented the team of animators, effects artists, and designers is.

PSYOP continues to put out terrific work this year, with this new work from Matulick and Marie Hyon working on this year's earlier MTV HD "Crow" ID. It's gonna be a great year for them at awards... PSYOP definitely sets high standards, both with their stunning work, and their involvement of women in every aspect of production. Neil French can shove it.

Nancy Vonk tells it to the man. Specifically, the sexist one.

Neil French, an (ex)top creative consultant at WPP made comments back in October 05 about the inability of women to balance both a home and a career. His specific words? "All women in the industry are crap, who inevitably wimp out and go suckle something.” Luckily, women in the industry (who evidently, were not busy "suckling something" or perhaps CAN juggle two things at once) fired back and French ended up resigning.

One of the most vocal critics in this incident was Nancy Vonk, a senior creative executive then at WPP, now at Olgivy and Mather Toronto. Boards sums it up nicely, naming Vonk to their 2006 It List: "After attending a live event in which former WPP creative chief Neil French boorishly diminished the importance of women in the ad sphere, Ogilvy & Mather Canada co-chief creative officer Nancy Vonk blogged a level-headed but firmly-written rebuttal that started the gears turning on French's eventual dismissal. Much more crucially, in the course of decimating French's glibness with well-argued polemic, she shone a light on the industry's woeful lack of female representation and sparked an international discourse that extended far outside the realm of advertising."

To grab more of Vonk's pearls of wisdom and commentary on the 'biz as we know it, check out AskJancy from ihaveanidea.

One to Watch: Cat Solen

Director Cat Solen was recently signed by Partizan, the same prod. house that reps Nagi Noda (of recent Coke fame). Cat's definitely one to watch, as she's the creative force behind the awesome "Soul Meets Body" music video for Death Cab for Cutie, as well as some videos for Bright Eyes.

"What I love most about live action and animation is the combination of textures, and what that does inside people’s brains. I think it reminds us of childhood when we would respond to color and texture with such joy… I also think that combining animation and live-action makes the audience more aware of the process, which in the day and age of fancy computers and insane effects is very important in a film done entirely the old-fashioned way."

EDIT: It turns out that there are TWO versions of the music video for Soul Meets Body. Solen's was shot on super-8 by different familes on Thanksgiving Day. Jon Watts of Waverly Films was helming the video with the floating music notes.

To see Solen's take on Soul Meets Body, check out Death Cab for Cutie's site. Solen, via videos.antville.org, comments on her idea: "plans is an album about relationships and the ways
that our plans effect them and change us. for "soul meets body" i wanted to make a video where our different plans could all exist together anyways. i sent 8 super8 cameras around the country and asked those folks to film whatever they did on Thanksgiving day 2005. i asked them to hold on a subject (any subject) and then pan to another, and hold on that subject and then cut. i chose super8 because i wanted the film's physicality to be directly representative of the subject manner. super8 has a contextual relationship with society that i all about plans, family, and documentation of experience. "

Cannes honors Whopperettes

Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Whopperettes campaign (blogged earlier by Toxic Shock here) was honored at Cannes' advertising festival. Their website design and execution took home a Gold Cyberlion.

Still think it was all a bit over the top, but I suppose it was clever and well-executed. Hopefully this will be the end of the "woman as ingredient" objectification.

3,000 ads a day, and rising...

Here's a great article from Ms. magazine, discussing the ever colossal amount of ads the average person sees each day, and how that sheer magnitude can affect women. The main offenders? Who else: the regular glossies: Vogue, Cosmo, Elle, Seventeen, etc. I'll add my own two sense in here and suggest that even Jane is a culprit-- a supposedly progressive and feminist magazine, it still receives plenty of ad revenue from companies who peddle an impossible standard of beauty. Which are you to believe: the articles saying women can be strong and independant, or the full page ads saying you need a new lip gloss?