Photos
First of all, I am SORRY about this. But that’s the way it goes. Some mornings you wake up and it’s a video of a cat eating all the birthday cake, and some mornings you wake up and it’s this. That is life, jump into it. Anyway, a Brazilian advertising agency released a poster for the World Wildlife Fund earlier this week that swept the Internet. It featured a hundred planes pointed at the World Trade Center, and it was awful. I mean, I think we all support the cause of the World Wildlife Fund. Most of us. There might be a few who are like “I just hate wildlife, I think it is the way I was raised” (hating wildlife is taught in the home). But the rest of us are like “Yay! Wildlife!” But invoking 9/11 to protect wildlife? That seems odd. And by odd I mean horror-barf. That seems horror-barf.
Well that was just a poster. Now imagine that they made it into a video.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Wait, there’s more:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
This is the worst!
I need an adult! I need an adult! The mean man hurt my face! Fuck you, Don Draper!
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Am I the only one that thinks this isn’t so terrible?
Like I get that it’s exploiting the deaths of thousands of people, and that 9/11 was a terrible thing.
But from an advertising standpoint it’s pretty brilliant. People are talking about it, it get’s the point across in a very, very vivid way. And most of all it really makes people think.
I know with the way the world works, this would never get positive reception from the masses, but I think that’s it’s pretty well done..
*prepares for the thumbs down onslaught*
See it “works” in that it gets people to talk about it. But I just think it’s stupid pandering. When I think the WWF, I’ll just think “desperate to the point of unintentionally misanthropic.” A panda bear would never advocate this if it knew anything!
The WWF didn’t make this. The Brazilian ad agency DDB made it as a promotion for WWF, which WWF summarily rejected for obvious reasons. The agency left the WWF logo on it and submitted it to an awards ceremony in Israel (I believe), where it actually won a prize. WWF has come out denouncing the ad, and the people involved with the ad agency have been let go.
The more you know.
I was just coming back to recant. Looks like the pandas DO KNOW SOMETHING!
WWF is now admitting, in a joint statement with the ad agency written in Portuguese, that it actually does bear some responsibility:
http://gawker.com/5351872/wwf-actually-did-know-about-911-ad
Lying sacks of nitrate-balanced-composte-bound panda shit….
yeah it totally gets across what WWF are all about. don’t drop litter OR THE PLANET WILL KILL YOU 100 TIMES!
Yeah, it’s like how the merry-go-round trailer for Saw VI that Gabe posted a while back really got me thinking about health care reform. ADVERTISING!
Actually flying the planes into buildings also works to get people talking about a people’s cause.
not really, since we ended up in wars in iraq and afghanistan and never really addressed osama bin laden’s main complaints about the US, like our support of israel.
it WOULD get people talking about your issue if you had control of the media outlets in the country. the legitimate issues that 9/11 could’ve brought to light (e.g. our involvement in the middle east politics to protect our oil interests) got drowned out by the government’s idiotic slogans about how they’re jealous of our lifestyles and they’re pure evil. obvs flying planes into buildings is an unacceptable way to air your grievances and osama bin laden is a dangerous coconut, but that doesn’t change the fact that he brought up some things that might have inspired some serious soul-searching as a nation, but instead inspired mindless faux patriotic blatherings and empty gestures like magnetic ribbons on the back of our cars, mostly.
i hear ya and i agree. i was only making a point that advertisers shouldn’t be using exploiting this image to get people to take notice.
jesus.
I can’t believe they even spent extra time photoshopping in the whole wobbling camera (what? we were only expecting 2 CGI planes!?!?!). did no one in the ad agency at any point during this time put up their hand and say “ummm, we are the worst people in the entire world”
It’s taken down, now I have no idea what was so terrible and will continue to live in my world where unicorns exist. Tralalala!
I don’t believe your avatar. Have you found your tambourine?
Just like that the video is taken down. See Gabe, you hurt DDB Brazil’s feelings.
I think this was made by people who don’t know how nature works. Or terrorism. Or advertising. Or anything.
If Don Draper worked at a Brazilian advertising agency, they’d call him Donaldinho Draper.
I think it’ll be single name. No?
I’m a Brazilian girl who just got odd looks from the Brazilian people at the Brazilian office after Lots of Loving this. Upvoted, senhor or senhorita.
Well, I admit that it got me talking, but about how much I now want to punch a baby seal. Not all publicity is good publicity, after all.
One thing to note…WWF did not commission this work and have condemned it: http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=138747
Apparently this firm was trying to WIN OVER business from WWF. I’d imagine they’ve done themselves more harm than good.
Thank you for that link! That explains best what I’m sure WWF wants people to know: They want nothing to do with this advertisement.
Also, it touches on what was also my reaction: What the HELL do tsunamis have to do with conservation? Earth will kill us with giant waves and planes because pandas?
Seeing the headline, I thought this post was gonna be about the script that was just ordered for Big Momma’s House 3.
I thought it was announcing the sequel to Glitter.
I keep waiting on that lego movie trailer to just blow all of my bad memories of the last decade away…
As soon as I saw the post title, I was getting my disagreement jeans on. I thought it might be referring to a Glenn Beck special or that Mad Men was canceled. However, the ad is indeed worse than 9/11.
But now my disagreement jeans are off, and I’m putting on my Barbra Streisand in The Prince of Tides ass-masking therapist pantsuit.
Whoops…That’s your ad agency.
I hope he trips and gets his head stuck in a tree where squirrels eat his face. McG would be like, I know there’s a word for a situation like this…
…FUCK.
NOT SAFE FOR LIFE.
I love (hate) how they describe 9/11 as “one of the worst tragedies in the history of humanity”, as if being so sensitive and hyperbolic is going to let them off the hook for what comes next.
Sadly, I bet if they had presented this ad to PETA, they would have jumped on it right away.
So true. You just don’t expect it of WWF.
The logo at the end fucked my shit up. Why is that panda staring at me with its vacant, judging eyefurspots? “You made your worse-than-terrorism planet bed. Now lie in it while I eat this bamboo.”
As someone that worked in advertising for years, this only solidifies my hatred for the medium. Not only is advertising the pornography of Capitalism, this kind of shit is produced from foreign countries with no regard for the American public. And as many have pointed out, the ad makes no sense. Ugh, Brazil. Ugh.
One evil ad agency = “foreign countries with no regard for the American public”? Ugh, Dutchgirl. Ugh.
I will retract, I shouldn’t of said “foreign countries” and just said “DDB Brazil”. My point was, this ad is abhorrent, and advertising sucks, from my personal experience.
Since I’m Dutch, I would like to say, um, what? No, mafkees.
Mafkees? Nogal hard voor onze eerste “ontmoeting”…
Ohjee, Nederlanders!!
Shit, I was somehow under the impression that you weren’t actually Dutch. Excuses.
Nederlandergum.com party in Amsterdam! Iedereen die dit begrijpt is welkom!
Nederlanders zijn overal! We’re gonna take over the internet!
But seriously, I didn’t think I’d come across other Dutch people on videogum!
The World Wrestling Federation has jumped on the “Go Green” bandwagon? Good for them!
(jk I know there was a name change and this advertisement has seared my brain.)
I’m not trying to be argumentative, but, isn’t saying “this is worse than 9/11″ kinda the same thing as DDB has done here? because this is not worse than 9/11. It’s insensitive, and loathsome, but it’s not terrorism. Isn’t that comparison in itself a bit insensitive?
When Gabe says “this is (something)”, in your mind you have to add “(this is not (something))”. It’s a meme or something, or whatever the kids call it. You didn’t TalbainJ hard enough.
Not to disestablishmentarianism your point, which is taken, although I disagree. But that would be like a serious discussion, so I’d have to put on my serious discussion pants first.
yeah, you’re kinda putting a Noob stamp on my forehead. But, I know this blog well enough to know that Gabe doesn’t mean any disrespect. (although he usually does follow through with the “this is not whatever”) To be honest I kinda meant to post this in reply to another comment that was agreeing that this commercial is worse than 9/11. Anyways, just found it ironic, is all.
Is the point of this ad that if we don’t respect the earth it will murder us? And wasn’t that the plot of The Happening? Ugh, DDB, at least pick a better M. Night Shyamalan movie for your adver-terrorism. Like a world that (SPOILER ALERT…but really, where have you been) has been dead the whole time.
That’s 100 times more deaths, so don’t worry about those other deaths. THOSE DEATHS AIN’T SHIT.
tree>american
“Nature kills 100 times as many people as 9/11 on a regular basis, please support us in keeping it protected.”
seriously, i never really thought about how dangerous nature is. we should really do something about that. can we drain the oceans, so they can stop being so drowny? and also fuse the tectonic plates together so they stop being all earthquakey? is there a giant super jail we could build so that we can end the earth’s reign of terror?
Actually, this is probably the worst 9/11 crossover ever.
http://fetlife.com/groups/113/group_posts/285304
9/11 caused me emotional trauma, as it did most of us. A couple of months afterward I arranged a rape scene, not realizing that I hadn’t recovered enough to be able to handle it. At the time, it didn’t even occur to me that it was possible for me not to enjoy a rape scene with my partner. I knew less than five minutes in that something was really, really wrong. But I had no safeword, so I had no way of ending the scene. I was raped and tortured for about two hours. It’s the only time I felt actually raped, unwilling, praying for it to end. It was really quite traumatic. I was unable to scene for quite some time after that… not sure how long. (Several months? A year?) But it was educational. I learned that I need to introspect and be more mindful of my own mental and emotional state before a scene, especially considering we don’t use safewords, to ensure that I’m truly ready for what’s about to happen.
LOLtastic.
I’m just going to point out that you need a username and password to access that link. Okay I’m also going to connect the dots, one dot being your link to that story and the other dot being the username/password requirement to read it. You are a BDSM fetishist. That is the line that connects the dots.
LOLtastic.
that’s a great point!
thanks for sharing it!
I don’t get their point.
Nature is way more badass than Al-Qaeda. So, y’know, watch out.
Or nature will fuck you up. So don’t forget that the WWF can do absolutely nothing.
i didn’t find the add deeply offensive, just poorly thought out.
know your audience, ad agency! we don’t care about all the people that die all the time in poor, dirty places, we only care about the 3000ish people who died in OUR country that one time. doy.
I know I’m going to sound ridiculous because of OMGNINEELEVEN, but to categorize an event that killed 2,819 people as one of the worst tragedies in humanity is downright patronizing. The holocaust? Rwanda? The freakin’ tsunami? Just for comparison, Stalin’s forced famines caused 15,000 times the number of deaths as 9/11. 3,000 people probably died in Chinese labor camps today just because. The attacks definitely did suck and were a travesty, hell I was like 20 blocks away when it happened, but I think people need some perspective sometimes, seriously.
Also, you know, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Man, if I lived in NYC and was on a rooftop during 9/11 and saw all those planes coming in to smack into every building that ever lived I would be all like, “MA! Get my shotgun!” And then I’d start shooting down all those birds. For the children.
This commercial totally inspired me to go to culinary school 2 years from now.
So, this isn’t the first time an environmental/wildlife group has done this:
oh my gosh. this was so terrible. blah. i wish i hadn’t watched it- GABE! damn. and i’m watching the movie manhattan. (which is a great movie!!) so maybe that will make the grossness fade away. BLAH.
i don’t think is an effective ad even if it is controversial. it’s easy to be controversial. beyond being offensive (which for the record i am not easily offensive), this ad is just confusing. what point are they trying to make? mother nature is the real terrorist? we must fear and respect it? the tsunami is a worse disaster because it killed more people? the tsunami was worse because it couldn’t be controlled by humans? 9/11 was bad but is trivial? i should donate money to wwf (same initials as world wrestling federation?)?
i think this ad would have been better if instead of planes they were meteors and instead of twin towers it was a t rex. i mean the meteors were the original terrorist.
20 Minutes with the President — Charlie Sheen interviews Barack Obama about 9/11
http://www.infowars.com/twenty-minutes-with-the-president/
An award for CGI I hope. Because the CGI was great. JOKES!!
3 things:
1) 9/11 being one of the worst tragedies in HUMAN HISTORY. now thats just offensive and downright patronizing. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the holocaust, St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, WW1 and WW2, the black plague, heck what is happening right now in the middle east are just some of the things that passed my mind while reading the title. compared to those, the death of 3000 people in a relatively quick manner seems tame.
if you insist then at least mention American History though even then i think the KKK and civil war takes priority.
2) that add makes no sense. nature kills us, so respect it and conserve it? they turned mother nature into a terrorising bully O.o
3) most of the ones posting here. YES what happened was tragic, but even today there are things ten times worse happening in the world. for all you guys blasting on brazil for being insensitive for not considering this event as holy and untouchable, please notice that the other countries had all their fare share of disasters that honestly are ten times worse. I dont see you acting the same way when someone uses a tsunami or suicide bombing as the butt of a joke.
heck what you did to afghanistan and iraq as retaliation IS worse then 9/11 could ever dream to be.