World AIDS Day
Tomorrow, Dec 1st, is World Aids Day. That's why Médecins Sans Frontières is launching this film.
It's made by the Belgian advertising agency Duval Guillaume Brussels.
Thanks to Alexander Cha'ban for sending this to us!
It's made by the Belgian advertising agency Duval Guillaume Brussels.
Thanks to Alexander Cha'ban for sending this to us!
posted by Jesus Beuys at 17:22
9 Comments:
it's good, nice end text, reminds me of katamari
Being involved in the pitching (throwing meat to the dogs) on this whimsical-magical little piece of work (steady!), I have it on good and honest knowledge that this commercial cost around 100 000 euro (around 67000 pounds) to make. If you know anything about the ridiculously backward, up-the-arse world of advertising, then you're probably aware that this sum of money is an absolute pittance. However in the fantastically, make-believe world of third-world, AIDS-ridden Africa (as lovingly rendered and reproduced in this here little gem), 100 000 euros is a fortune beyond most people's wildest dreams. Now being involved in the pitching (I repeat myself) I kind of thought (and I remain cowardly and anonymous on this) that 100 000 euros would be better spent on something else, oooooh lets say for example...direct investment? Bringing the cash to the man like them says down below. Some directors working on this pitch offered to do it for free, total budget and all, yes really, but those poor bastards lost out...granted, their 'for free' idea was a little less spectacular than what we've all been blessed with now...but that's okay it's probably a good thing because otherwise the world would have been robbed of an ad that LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING PLAYSTATION II COMMERCIAL, GET FUCKING REAL PEOPLE!!! THIS IS SERIOUS!!! How can anyone take an ad like this seriously when it looks a cross between 'Sonic the Hedgehog goes darkest Africa' and 'The SIMS get AIDS!' Hey am I alone on this? Please God help us all...
Here's another cherry on the tart! The director of this fine piece of commercial art was head-honcho creativo at Duval-Guillaume Brussels, the guy freakin' commissioned himself on this!
I tried looking up a word for this, something like a melange between 'arrogant' and 'delusional' but with a cruel little twist to it (possibly a word similar to the sound of the word 'futile' - sharp, cold, evil...) but alas... I hope someone gets the gist of it...
If I'm wrong regarding any of the facts, point them out, sue me then fuck off. No one should defend advertising of this nature- it's artless.
Dear anonymous, dear coward,
I'm the art director and half of the team that came up with the idea for this spot. It also was our idea to make this spot in this fashion.
Before going completly Bill Hicks on us you might do your research a little better. First of all the director on this commercial was the in-house producer of DG. So no head-hancho at all. Second he's a very good friend of ours, so why shouldn't he do the job? We trust him and he delivers.
Third, the people we are trying to reach here are youngsters between 18-30. What better way is there to grab their attention as this one (Sims, sonic the Hedgehog)? Our goal was to make them aware not to make them donate. So why the hell should we show real images of dying children, crying mothers and other pathetic ways of messin' with ones head? Tell me why, dear coward? When people see this movie, instead of going 'Ooooh, look how sad...' They go 'Holy shit!' Aids is more than a disease, it's a monster which whipes out complete countries.
Fourth: Dear anonymous, dear coward, please crawl back from where you came from and stop putting down people's efforts to make a difference. Keep your personal vendetta's of the internet, if you're really keen on having a fight you can always pass by the agency...I'll be waiting.
Alexander Cha'ban
I almost forgot: A lot of people worked for free on this project, INCLUDING the director.
A
Me again, the coward,
I sincerely apologize for my rant, I was drunk and it was late.
But just let me reiterate, I'll try and be more clear on this because I think it's important.
I'll start off with the most irrelevant point, just so we can get it out of the way. The director was the creative director of DG, no? He is essentially your boss, he gives the go-ahead on a project and that includes choice of director. It might be a little more intricate than that, but I'm pretty sure that's the gist of it right? Now can you see how that looks on paper? I mean if he made a good ad - different story, you wouldn't be hearing from me. But unfortunately you are... It's nothing personal, it was just the icing on the cake in a manner of speaking.
If you had told me that the director and his colleagues HADN'T worked for free on this, then my belief in humanity would really have been shattered to pieces...thank God for that.
By reducing the AIDS-crisis to the level of a 'videogame' in this ad shows a certain amount of disrespect to the parties involved. I mean don't get me wrong I actually thought it was a marginally good idea to start off with, but it's the end product which I find tasteless. I also never said anything about showing images of 'dying children and crying mothers...and other pathetic ways of messin' with ones head'. You said that. I'm all for metaphor in storytelling, sometimes it can be the more effective choice. But to be honest, I found this rather hard to swallow, do you really believe that by showing the X-Box version of what's going on in these countries that you're communicating something that is vaguely truthful and factual? That's ridiculous! It's like letting kids watch Rambo, and telling them this was what the Vietnam war was like. It's your job to be creative enough to come up with something that will have the right impact on the designated target-group while PROPERLY and TRUTHFULLY informing said target-group. I mean that's what you're paid to do right? Now don't pull this out of context - AIDS is not a monster, it is a syndrome caused by a virus. HIV Scare tactics date back to the Eighties and Nineties and have been proven ineffective, our best option now is to educate people, not make them believe that there is a CGI monster rolling around in Africa. No-one watches Godzilla nowdays and thinks to themselves 'hmmm... nuclear waste IS a killer!'
My main piss-point is this: in the equasion whereby one considers this ad's budget in relation to what it is and what it is for, then my only conclusion is that it smacks of ignorance. Try coming up with something creative, conspicuous AND within a budget that is workable and fair. Then hire in a director who can pull it off. (But I guess I'm just banging my head against a wall here, the inner-workings of the advertising industry are in most cases notoriously illogical.)
By the way, should I really, as you so eloquently request, 'crawl back from where I came from'? Now don't get me wrong but that kind of implies that I'm some sort of animal i.e. not human? Did I step on toes here or something? Do I deserve such rebuke? I worked on a successful AIDS-campaign myself, I donate! I'm aware! I would never, never put down anyone's effort to make a difference, really I wouldn't. But here's the deal: don't for one minute think that I'm making a personal vendetta out of this. I'm expressing my opinion, I should think I'm entitled to that. If you're going to tackle a serious subject be prepared for criticism - good or bad. Deal with it. What the hell did you expect by putting the link on this website? That the comments would all be exceedingly positive or something?
By the way, my name is Marc Roels. I've only just discovered the identity options below. That amused me. I'm not really a coward, I hope? I just like getting into debates, gets the blood pumping and it kinda grounds you, know what I mean?
Oh yeah, who is Bill Hicks?
Dear Marc
Thanx for revealing your identity, I hate it when people have bold statements but aren't bold enough to add a name to that. I tend to take people less seriously... Now that we introduced ourselves, I'd like to clearify some things.
First: The artististic style we decided to incorporate for our animatic isn't a mimic of computergames. On the other hand it's situated in the realm of the high-tech. It is a graphical solution we found more than fit for our audience. Because it's familiar and is close to the habitat of our audience (age 18-30). I'm not talking about only videogames but also the internet, cellullar phones. All these things are becoming so regular and taken for granted in their world.
Our client MSF, who was kept close in the process of this film, was actually very satisfied with the elegant and sincere (although not depicting reality) style of portraying the people and the surroundings. If you have issues with comparing AIDS with a snowball-effect that produces a gigantic human ball that destroys communities, well, then it's just a matter of creative and artistical differences. Thus end of discussion.
You keep on rambling about the budget, did you, even for a moment, think of how sky-high the budget would be if we would pull this off in realtime?( Another thing you can chew on: Isn't it better to make a 10.000 euro ad so you can raise 100.000 euro?)
In conclusion: We made out of our disadvantage a much more intresting advantage and a cheaper one. So we chose for 3D-animation. It's as simple as that.
Second: Maybe my English isn't that sharp but I still don't understand your issue with the director. The director was Andreas Hasle, he was our former in-house producer. He never was a CREATIVE director and never will be. He's now a film-director. We know him, he's at the beginning of his career, he wanted to do it for free, he showed a lot of initiative... are you catching my drift? Keeping all these facts in mind, it was obvious we asked Andreas to direct the ad. And he did a great job. I still don't understand what's wrong with this.
Third: I posted this spot in the first place to have maximum exposure. These blogs are a perfect medium to reach our target audience like explained earlier. I appreciate critisism. It sharpens me up. But I'm afraid all your commentaries are missing the point here and are rather irrelevant. It's like you're tryin' to pick a fight. Maybe you shouldn't drink and write... ;-)
alexander
ps: Bill Hicks is one of the best stand-up comedians who walked this planet. He really hated people in advertising and marketing. That's why I was refering to him earlier. He believed in the reason of man. The same reason which will help people decide who of us two is full of crap. Thank you and goodnight.
And now for something completly different as Monty Python would say ;)
Alexander, I also noticed the (visual)style resemblance between this awarness ad and Katamari Damacy and wrote about it on my blog (see: http://www.burobjorn.nl/blog/?p=59)
Would you like to comment on my observations that I made in that post?
On another note,
This advert really impressed me, i loved the 3d deformations bringing out the povery of africa, the details, the use of music, it's really superb. The fact is it impressed me, it didnt make me think, i want to donate to this fund.
I dont know if this is the right audience for the appeal, or am i wrong here? I'm wondering how affective this very creative and impressive (i say that with no irony) is for those poor africans.
I think an advert like that is going to be a viral more then a television advert, if thats the case, just for respect of the medium, the logo should be much, much bigger, so people really get the message of whose helping afterwards. I know thats really niggly but its important you know!
To reiterate i love the advert im just wondering how helpful it is for the people the advert is for.
Marc, shame on you for not knowing who bill hicks is! He's like your fairy godfather dude.
Funny how people don't seem to understand. The guy gave you two explanations, written ones for god sake! So stop making these irrelevant remarks. It's an awarness-campagne, there is NO donating-part. And how ridiculous is that remark about reaching the right audience. It's age 18-30. Why am I explaining this? What I mean to say is: Wow, fuckin' great spot they made! This will surely win big time! No wonder some people just can't swallow the marvel of this creation.
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