Can Someone Give Me a Non-Creepy Explanation For These Kia Ads? (And Fisking Their Official Explanation)
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]
Update: Ace links.
I am going to put the majority of this post below the fold because you have to make the ads huge to make them reasonably visible. But I am really wondering if any of you can come up with a non-creepy explanation.
Now here is the most egregious (award winning!) one (I suggest you open it in a new tab and then enlarge it):
But a lot of people don’t know there is another.
I mean the especially egregious one is the first one, right? Because on the left it is a cartoon involving a man who is clearly and adult, and a girl who is clearly a child, but on the right she’s a student, yes, but it’s possible she is at least 18. As Jim Treacher tweeted: “Which is creepier: imagining a little girl as a voluptuous woman, or vice versa?” At least in the Sleeping Beauty one both characters are transformed into children in the “innocent” version.
But really, that can’t be Kia’s intent, to use pedophila to sell their products, right? Because no company in its right mind would do that, right? Right?
More creepy ads here, here and here.
And as alluded to above, yes, the first Kia ad won an award at the Cannes advertising festival. No wonder Roman Polanski feels safe in France.
But American reaction has been so angry, that Kia America is trying to distance itself from the ad. In this post, Kia America writes as follows:
Kia Motors America (KMA) has become aware of an offensive piece of advertising material that was created by an ad agency in Brazil that KMA has no business relationship with and has never worked with. This ad was not created in the U.S. by Kia Motors America or any of its marketing partners and does not reflect the opinions or values of KMA or Kia Motors Corporation. The ad is undoubtedly inappropriate, and on behalf of Kia Motors we apologize to those who have been offended by it. We can guarantee this advertisement has never and will never be used in any form in the United States, and our global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea is addressing the issue with the independent Brazilian distributor.
Now the same blogger who landed this comment then goes on to claim that therefore this meant that “[t]his is a the second recent occasion in which a Brazilian ad agency has been caught entering an ad at Cannes that was not fully approved by a client.”
Um, not so fast. I think what is damning is what they don’t say, the expressio unius in the comment. Let me quote them again:
KMA has no business relationship with and has never worked with [that agency].
KMA is short for Kia Motors America, which is almost certainly nothing more than the American affiliate of South Korean company. So it’s a bit like OJ Simpson saying, “I didn’t stab Nicole Brown with my left hand.” They only start to include what is likely to be the parent company in the next denial:
This ad … does not reflect the opinions or values of KMA or Kia Motors Corporation.
Which is not the same as saying that Kia Motors Corporation had nothing to do with it, now is it? The pregnant negatives continue:
We can guarantee this advertisement has never and will never be used in any form in the United States…
Which means they can’t guarantee that this ad has not and never will be used outside the United States.
…and our global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea is addressing the issue with the independent Brazilian distributor.
Which ideally means that they are going to rip them a new hole, heads are going to roll, etc., but that’s not exactly saying that, now is it?
Now, the blog author also says this:
But Kia spokesperson Scott McKee told BNET that the ad did not run for any consumer purpose for Kia — meaning it wasn’t a car dealership ad.
But at this point, I would like to read Scott McKee’s actual words, since the author seems to have snookered pretty significantly by the Clintonian evasions of KMA.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
This is a hoax, right? I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S REAL ANYMORE.
SarahW (af7312) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:01 pmIs it possible that the agency created the ads, entered them, they were rejected by the client, and won the award?
htom (412a17) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:11 pmA) Cannes needs to be canned.
Sue (24e46b) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:16 pmB) I hope they revoke the award.
C) The judges for the award need to be investigated.
Some unintentionally sexual ads
I saw the Kia ad a couple of days ago. I’m not easily shocked, but I was disgusted by it.
Chuck Bartowski (e84e27) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:23 pmNAMBLA approved?
Temper Tantrum (02fe1b) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:24 pm1) I think it says far more about Cannes than it does about Kia, in whatever incarnation.
2) I think the Clintonian evasions are worthy of a real Wiener of a media spokesperson @ some level of Kia.
3) It appears that pedophilia is alive and prosperous in Brazil. There should be some general international condemnation of these ads.
4) In honesty, I can kinda see what they were attempting to suggest without getting “creepy”, but they clearly failed, utterly and abysmally.
IgotBupkis, President, United Anarchist Society (c9dcd8) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:28 pmAwesome. Now that I feel like I’m a really dirty letch, I have to go take a shower.
(I am a dirty letch. I just like my playmates to be above the age of consent, and to have actually consented. Yes, I know I’m weird that way.)
I R A Darth Aggie (9e9ecf) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:29 pmhtom
supposedly the cannes rules don’t allow for it, unless it actually ran.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:35 pmbtw, i heard Kia is going to use those ads for their new vehicles. They are going to be called the Kia Aisha, and they will feature 1) windowless vans and 2) ice cream trucks.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:37 pmchuck
i am not sure all of those are accidental.
its like the erection in the old camel ads. subliminal advertising.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:39 pmthose are cute maybe I wouldn’t have used them for America though
also I love the cheerily practical Kia Soul they seem to be a big hit in Los Angeles
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:41 pmWTF? For use in Hustler?
Patricia (b717c7) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:42 pmWell, if it was done for no other purpose than winning such an award, you pretty much have to do something outlandish like that. The current fad among the aging hipsters who hand out such an award is the bolder your attack on Western culture and values, the better.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:42 pmI’m not sure I see the problem here.
Anthony "Lil Tony" Weiner (7924ed) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:49 pmThese ads are in English. Unless these are translations (?) they can drop the pretense that they were intended for Brazil.
Glen Wishard (2167a4) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:49 pmWell, we do have a reputation for being more prudish than many other places, like Brazil and Italy–but I’m pretty sure the first ad passes a line even in Brazil. The second ad I don’t have a problem with–it shows them as two consenting adults, and I guess we should be grateful that the artist didn’t choose to make Prince Charming’s stallion even bigger, if you know what I mean… And there is a whole cottage industry devoted to rendering fairy tales for adults.
But, as the BNET write-up asks, how come these ads are in English and not Portuguese? The reporter seems to think that the ad agency didn’t comply with the Cannes rules, and that in any case Cannes needs a good scrubbing.
kishnevi (510a0a) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:51 pmIn response to the above commentary. Kia Motors Corporation can guarantee this ad has never run and never will globally as well. Thank you.
Kia Motors America (881716) — 6/25/2011 @ 2:53 pm“Kia” can you verify in some way that you speak for the company?
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:04 pmCorporate separateness plays in here. KMA can’t tell KMC or KM Brasil what to do. Technically, KMC can’t tell KM Brasil what to do, they can suggest, advise, etc. Doesn’t justify the ad, nothing can, but it does explain the KMA response.
rudytbone (68d983) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:05 pmAnd even if Kia Motors America does speak for the company (and by golly I understand why they’d be in damage control mode right about now), can you confirm that “has never run and never will run globally” means “never has run and never will run IN ANY MARKET WHATSOEVER”?
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:09 pmrudy
well, certainly KMA can’t command them, that’s right, but the whole company needs to respond to this.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:10 pmAaron, certainly they should. But I think KMA’s response in appropriate, considering the timing the the scope of their influence. I hope to see more from KMC next week.
rudytbone (68d983) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:16 pmIF the parent company or another subsidisary of the parent approved this ad anywhere, one has to feel sympathy for the negative impacts this will have on innocent American dealers and workers who will be affected by this boneheaded — and outrageously perverse — move.
That said, Kia must be held accountable for any actions they have taken, and if the American dealers tie themselves to a brand that does this, they have some hard decisions to make.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:18 pmI think the first ad, at least, has been misinterpreted. The little girl obviously has a crush on the teacher. The left-side panels depict the innocent reality, while the right-hand panels depict her fantasy. Same with the second set. These ads have nothing whatsoever to do with pedophilia, and I think that interpretation says a lot more about the interpreters than about the ads or their authors.
jim (448c46) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:39 pmJim,
oh, right, the “you’re the perverts” defense to perversion. *rolls eyes*
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:40 pmHeh.
You should see the porn comic books Japanese businessmen read on the train.
School girl rape fantasies galore.
The best we can hope is this didn’t run in the US market.
MayBee (081489) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:42 pmW.T.F?
Dude.
The panel on the right depicts the young schoolgirl’s fantasy to have sex with her teacher?
It’s the old “the children wanted me” thing pedophiles are known to tell themselves.
And this makes sense to you? You’re putting it in writing that this is your position?
You sicko.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:46 pmAron Worthing,
The misrepresent-someone-else’s-argument-to-conceal-your-own-idiocy defense of idiocy. Well played.
jim (448c46) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:49 pmAnd yet If this were about Clarence Thomas jim would call him a pervert.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:51 pmI’m not inclined to grant jim anything at all after this comment:
If, however, we grant jim whatever point he thinks he’s trying to make …
jim, you believe that an advertisement showing a young child’s sexual fantasies for an adult is not related to pedophilia?
Quite honestly, you make me fear for those whom you meet.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:56 pmAt what point does she fantasise about “sex with her teacher”? There is not a single sex act depicted in these ads. No, neither ad turns me on, but I think they’re very witty and clever. No wonder your ancestors were kicked out of Holland.
jim (448c46) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:56 pmPedobear approves of these ads.
Pedobear (26be8b) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:57 pm🙄 No wonder your a democrap beause you’d demonize a repub if this ad were about him.
DohBiden (15aa57) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:57 pmbecause*
DohBiden (15aa57) — 6/25/2011 @ 3:58 pmThe last frame, jim, you sicko:
“HOW ABOUT ANATOMY?”
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:02 pmjim
I didn’t misrepresent your argument, you made exactly that accusation. again your words:
Emphasis added. And, btw, about 2/3 of the people voting at the HUFFINGTON POST thought this was inappropriate.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:03 pmCmon, Aaron. “Jim” is just playing Internet games. He knows the ads are sick.
Simon Jester (588514) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:08 pmRandom
Be kind to Jim. Clearly he has not hit puberty and therefore hasn’t discovered women yet. So these things go over his head.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:08 pmI’m disinclined to call anyone a pervert until they have intentionally harmed a real person. A series of drawings does not entail intentional harm to a real person. Yes, I know this myth of words and pictures hurting people is a nice excuse to bitch about other peoples’ right to express themselves, but it’s an ad in a magazine, people. Grow up.
jim (448c46) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:10 pmIt’s the old “the children wanted me” thing pedophiles are known to tell themselves.
…which comes right after “she really wanted me to” thing rapists are known to tell themselves…and the court.
Dana (4eca6e) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:11 pmAgain, Jim, you said “I think that interpretation says a lot more about the interpreters”
So you actually are just taking sides, calling those who object to this pervert, and pretending you’re above the fray you are in.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:13 pm@ Jim,
I’m disinclined to call anyone a pervert until they have intentionally harmed a real person.
By this reasoning, the pedophile who looks at child porn has not intentionally harmed a real person. After all, he is only *looking* at photos that somebody else took.
Dana (4eca6e) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:15 pmBTW, Jim, while you’re telling everyone else to ‘grow up’, you should consider that Kia called the ads offensive, so … under your test, their taking offense shows they are perverts.
Hard to win with you, isn’t it?
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:17 pmJim
> I’m disinclined to call anyone a pervert until they have intentionally harmed a real person.
Of course not, because in fact this ad made you want to buy a kia, with no windows.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:18 pmI was just about to say that I can’t see how this ad could help someone select a Kia over another car.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:20 pmdual zone air conditioning is cool though cause I don’t have it and people here are always fiddling with the a/c cause they think it’s too cold cause they’re from Los Angeles so they’re not used to the sort of overcompensating air conditionings I grew up with in South Texas so it would be cool for them to have their own controls I think
plus I love the Kia Soul plus hamsters!
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:29 pmAnd it’s not like an ad with this same basic motif couldn’t rely on adults in the cartoon cold side. Tame and dull adults on the other, and the fantasy thing on the right.
They were over the top in the sexual thing… the kiss and that apple are meant to cross the boundary of normal ads. They picked kids for the same reason.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:31 pmYeah, happyfeet, dual zone climate control is a killer app in a car.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:31 pmShouldn’t you be going door to door, informing people you’ve moved into the neighborhood?
Jim Treacher (30ee2f) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:56 pmThe South Koreans don’t know from acceptable western culture so they are at the mercy of their western advertisers. Here is what happened: GM ( Obama, union, etc. ) got control of KIA advertising and created the ad for the purpose of destroying the KIA brand. They set up the award with their fellow conspirators in Cannes and of course KIA goes along with it on the basis that it must be good if it is getting all that praise.
That would be crazy except for the fact that they already did an extremely evil conspiracy against Toyota for the purpose of damaging that brand for the benefit of Government Motors.
j curtis (e049ca) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:56 pmActually, Mr. Treacher, I think that there is an app for that: finding RSOs in one’s neighborhood.
Simon Jester (588514) — 6/25/2011 @ 4:57 pmThis is why europeans have a reputation for making anything sexual. Honestly, is the US the only country that wouldn’t “go there” as it were? Or are we headed for that path?
Book (c7b6c5) — 6/25/2011 @ 5:25 pmIn the long term, the 2-3 great Japanese brands will just keep making the best cars they can, and Toyota in particular offered such great financing deals that it really softened GM’s chances of making a profit when I think they otherwise would have been doing fairly well.
I don’t even know if you’re right about these conspiracies, but ultimately, they have far less effect than product quality.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/25/2011 @ 5:29 pmThe ads have nothing to do with cars, or with this particular car company.
Instead, they’re an attempt to sell cars through the very diffuse tool of associated general coolness.
And thus, what offends me is Kia’s assumption that the way to sell cars to me is through an appeal to depravity. Their ad thus has become a perfectly good reason for me to exclude their products from my consideration the next time I decide to buy a car.
Beldar (3895f0) — 6/25/2011 @ 5:29 pm@Aaron: you can check our twitter handle @kia you will see the same message from our parent company. Thanks.
Kia Motors America (a1cee1) — 6/25/2011 @ 5:36 pmit kinda remind me of fooly cooly I think
also does anyone think sleeping beauty looks kinda like drew barrymore?
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 6/25/2011 @ 5:41 pmRe #17 & #55 above: Real or sock-puppeted, what’s been posted here does indeed correspond to the corporate party line.
But I’m not impressed by Kia Motors America merely saying this ad won’t run. How about, instead, something along these lines:
“We ought never have commissioned it, and we’ve fired every corporate employee or outside firm who was involved in its conception, creation, or even limited distribution. We renounce the ‘prize’ won by this ad. We’ve taken affirmative steps to ensure no problem like this will ever occur at our company again.”
Beldar (3895f0) — 6/25/2011 @ 6:18 pmPerhaps Kia Motors America has engaged Anthony Weiner as its “public relations damage control” expert.
Beldar (3895f0) — 6/25/2011 @ 6:20 pm“Jim” must be hanging out at Patterico to pick up Anthony Weiner’s old girlfriends.
Glen Wishard (2167a4) — 6/25/2011 @ 6:58 pmum, what beldar said.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 7:55 pmJeez …
Lesson #1 for hipsters, shock-artists, and the other assorted scum. And for companies.
Whatever “shock the bourgeoisie stuff” you like to play with, ala Roman Polanski, is going to bite you in the ass because nothing ever, ever stays hidden on the internet. Once its on the web (and be assured, the most “provocative” stuff will get on there) … it will PISS OFF EVERY MIDDLE CLASS CUSTOMER IN THE US YOU HAVE.
So hipster away. Be that edgy, bold provocative guy throwing mud in the faces of the square middle class. Just be aware, that you’ll pay a price for it eventually.
All cars are pretty much the same. Bob Lutz in his book notes that the BMW 3 series is within 3% of the material and parts cost of the Chevy Malibu. So its basically image and good will that consumers are buying. Believe me every Mom is going to get this ad in a chain e-mail.
whiskey (f36a0a) — 6/25/2011 @ 8:01 pmI’m pretty sure Kia had no intention of offending anybody.
They made the mistake of dealing with a super-cool ad agency (loaded with awards) that turned out to be a bunch of inflamed rectal tissue, and they are not the first ones.
Glen Wishard (2167a4) — 6/25/2011 @ 8:41 pmYup!
Way too old.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/25/2011 @ 9:32 pmAs someone in advertising, these ads were obviously a terrible idea. But the “pedo” stuff is an overreaction, IMO.
First, you have to consider what it is they’re trying to advertise. You wouldn’t believe how many bad ideas can be developed by people inside the bubble of the product they’re trying to pitch. When all you’re thinking about is your own idea, you tend to miss things that can be misinterpreted.
A great example is the “scream until Daddy stops” ice cream ad you might have read about the last few years. I always thought that was an urban legend of advertising, but it ended up really happening at a Dairy Queen.
The person who came up with it was thinking of the “I scream, you scream” rhyme. The idea being if you scream for ice cream loud enough, your dad will take you to get some. It probably never even entered their mind that someone might interpret “scream until Daddy stops” as a suggestion that a father was doing something to make his child scream.
Few examples are as awful as that one, but generally speaking, this sort of thing is more common than you think.
In this case, the ads are for dual zone air conditioning, in which the driver can get one temp. while the passenger gets another.
It’s the same idea with the comics. Look at the ads, how there’s a tear down the middle and the comic boxes don’t line up exactly. What they seem to be going for is the idea that these halves are from two different comics. The left side is from a comic that’s completely innocent, the right side is not.
Two different things (nice/naughty) within the same comic, like two different functions (warmer air/cooler air) within the same car.
The teacher ad isn’t supposed to suggest that the right side is anyone’s fantasy. It’s an entirely different teacher on the right side, just like it’s a different student, and just like the Sleeping Beauty comic has two different characters on the right.
But even if you did take the “fantasy” approach, then what you have is a man with a young girl imagining that she’s older. Which I imagine is the opposite of what a kiddy-diddler would do.
Again, there’s no question it was a terrible idea, and I can obviously see how people could see the worst in it. And using a teacher/student sexual theme is a horrible idea no matter what the context is.
But I really don’t think the purpose was to “sell products with pedophilia”. People have commented that the creators were trying to be “edgy”, and that’s clearly true to an extent, but the worst of the ad — that people are reading pedophilia into it — is probably another example of being in the “bubble” and not realizing how others may interpret it.
And when your ad is suggestive in nature to start with, people tend not to give you the benefit of the doubt. “Oh, you meant for THIS, but not for THAT? Yeah, right!” But it really does happen.
Dave (f59893) — 6/25/2011 @ 10:44 pm(As a side point, our new car has dual zone A/C, which I had always thought a silly thing. Now that I’ve seen my wife sending her side warmer, and turning on her seat heater, and then cooler and turning the heater off, every ten minutes — with great joy — I no longer think it silly at all. The backup camera would be more useful if it had 180º horizontal vision.)
htom (412a17) — 6/25/2011 @ 10:48 pmDave
I hope to God, it is a giant misunderstanding, but even treating the right side of the school one as truly separate… you know, in NY state, if they had sex, it would be statutory rape, even if she was above the age of consent. That is right, a student cannot legally consent to sex with his/her teacher. And even where that is legal, it is dubious. It takes the creepy down to a 5 out of ten at best.
Anyway, what kind of ad agency puts this out without subjecting this to focus groups and the like?
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/25/2011 @ 11:33 pmTo get that creep factor back up, note that not only is the cold/hot comparison lamer than Larry Flynt, but note also that these ads are not even remotely funny, even as parodies.
It looks like something from a low quality men’s magazine, circa 1950.
As an advertising effort, they look like sabotage.
To praise such incompetence, in spite of its obvious negative impact as advertising, looks like a political agenda. The kind of political agenda in which a witless and unartistic product like this is valuable precisely because its pedo-stink makes it subversive.
What do you have to do to get sued these days, anyway?
Glen Wishard (2167a4) — 6/26/2011 @ 12:13 amThey make 100X more sense that way!
And yet this won an award as a good advertisement.
Dustin (c16eca) — 6/26/2011 @ 12:30 amDustin
> They make 100X more sense [as sabotage]!
> And yet this won an award as a good advertisement.
You’re amazed? Clearly you have never watched The Producers. 🙂
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/26/2011 @ 1:06 amIt’s a sneak attack by the Obama admin to smear the Korean based auto company. Remember, in one of the presidential debate with Mccain, he proudly asserted that “I don’t want our parts made in South Korea”.
Also, there’s no truth to the rumor that KIA stands for “killed in action”.
lee (cae7a3) — 6/26/2011 @ 1:32 am“The teacher ad isn’t supposed to suggest that the right side is anyone’s fantasy. It’s an entirely different teacher on the right side, just like it’s a different student, and just like the Sleeping Beauty comic has two different characters on the right.”
If they weren’t dressed and had physical features that were almost identical, I might give your idea credence (I do not). The creators made the child and adult versions just different enough to provide the faintest cover of plausible deniability, but I think that just raises proof of their consciousness of what they were trying to pull off.
It was deliberate.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/26/2011 @ 2:54 amIt is also wrong to juxtapose children and adults having sex in the same visual work as was done here.
I meant, what you would one think of a porn site that had adults having sex in the middle and pictures of children on the edge of the page? A lovely contrast between adult sexual experience and youthful innocence?
I would say it is sick.
Random (52ce7f) — 6/26/2011 @ 3:00 amThank god the agency was not hired to create an ad for dual control electric blankets.
BTW, I appreciated reading Dave’s thoughtful post @10:44 PM. I think it’s fairly obvious that we each go through life seeing things through our own lens and through a frame of reference that is partially colored by our own profession. Dave identified himself as someone who knows advertising and I thought his take on it was very interesting. He pointed out the nuances/ideas related to their highlighting the concept of “dual” as the focus of the ad (and its product) that were probably very obvious to the creative types who dreamed it up, and also to the judges who gave the award to this ad. However, that same creative lens also probably prevented them from seeing or understanding the lens through which regular people and potential Kia consumers would see it–a shocking in-your-face creepy disconnect that went waaay beyond edgy. Dave’s use of the ice cream example was instructive. Finally, following his explanation Dave was quite clear that ultimately he considers the Kia ad to be a very bad ad, and a bad for KiaAmerica, for the very reasons many people here have commented on.
That is why Beldar’s proposed disclaimer, created with great clarity through his lawyerly lens, reads so right to many of us.
Thanks Aaron for starting this very good thread.
elissa (c3a242) — 6/26/2011 @ 5:13 amI guess their creative lens also prevented them from seeing that the composition of this ad is very poor, that both the art and the copy are gross and vulgar even if you totally acquit them of any pedophilial connotations, and that it has no “grab value”, no taste, no humor, no style, no coherence, and no intelligence.
In other words, if this were a perfectly innocuous and unobjectionable advertisement, it would still be a piece of junk.
Perhaps some people are too creative to realize that they have no talent, and should probably be writing Trig jokes for Wonkette, which is as far from the world of advertising as you can get.
Glen Wishard (2167a4) — 6/26/2011 @ 5:54 amIf any of you ever read japanese anime the theme of older man and very young girl pops up all the time. Also the teacher-student romance gets featured. Even anime shown to american kids has some questionable relationships. sesshomaru and rin for example in popular show, inuyasha has some borderline creepy moments.
A little more than a century ago you could buy a little girl in many asian countries.Today, child prostitution is an ongoing problem in more than one asian country. we have it here too, but nowhere as severe as in Thailand for instance. does this impact the advertising mindset. don’t know
name required (d77c52) — 6/26/2011 @ 6:25 amsummon the meteors
Jones (4de0a0) — 6/26/2011 @ 7:33 amThe Cannes Plume de Ore is one more international award that has lost all credibility due to their liberal excess. The liberal love those kinds of things, the rest of us don’t care and spend our time paying attention to things that matter.
tyree (84087f) — 6/26/2011 @ 8:01 amtyree
i also wonder, why do you even need an award for ads anyway. it just encourages ad agencies to be avante guarde rather than doing what is their job, which is to sell stuff. It leads directly to crap like this–ads that at best do nothing to help sales, but impresses the stuck up crowd. i am not saying that ads cannot be artful, but it just seems like a strange thing to rate artistically anyway.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/26/2011 @ 8:08 amOn a scale of 1 to Tommie Xtopher, how big of a douchenozzle is “jim” ?
JD (b98cae) — 6/26/2011 @ 8:14 am11, JD, what does this have to do with selling Kias,
ian cormac (72470d) — 6/26/2011 @ 8:24 amBeing a female, I immediately saw them both as female fantasy.
(Yeah, I totally had a crush on Speed Racer back in the day.)
angelatc (@AngelaTC) (10ffd2) — 6/26/2011 @ 9:52 amYoung teacher, the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing
This girl’s an open page
Book marking – she’s so close now
This girl is half his age
Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me
Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes it’s not so easy
To be the teacher’s pet
Temptation, frustration
So bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she’s waiting
His car is warm and dry
MayBee (081489) — 6/26/2011 @ 10:00 amyou just clamber right up the ladder of awesome like a monkey some days maybee
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 6/26/2011 @ 12:59 pmInterestingly I looked at the teacher/student ad and noting the difference left/right panels, believed it to be the fantasy of the teacher as his body structure in the fantasy was a bit buff, fuller, and more masculine with a sharper jawline. It seems more natural for a man to fantasize that about himself as well as the little girl morphing into a shapely young thing purposely tempting and desiring him. Sort’ve what you’d find in some men’s mag.
It seems less plausible that it’s the fantasy of a little girl.
BTW, where did Jim disappear to?
Dana (4eca6e) — 6/26/2011 @ 1:18 pmTroll Central, Dana. I wonder what the area code is?
Simon Jester (a9dd5a) — 6/26/2011 @ 1:25 pmMy rap video ad was sooooo offensive.
FilmLadd (1ddcfb) — 6/26/2011 @ 1:54 pmThis is a serious argument? We don’t see them actually in the act so there’s no suggestion of sex there?
Gerald A (9d78e8) — 6/26/2011 @ 6:16 pmfilm
wait, which ad were you talking about?
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 6/26/2011 @ 7:58 pmThere are a lot of sick people making comments here.
The ad is for a dual zone air conditioning system, so that the temperature in a car can be different for different passengers. One side of the comic strips show the kid’s “low temperature” version of events, while the other side shows the adult “hot” version of similar events.
It’s a clever way of making the point about a dual zone AIR CONDITIONING system, and it is pretty blatant. I can’t see how anybody could miss this – but I presume most of the posters had a public “education” in the United States?
Dave (533a38) — 6/26/2011 @ 11:12 pm