Erik Oster for AgencySpy:
We watch a lot of bad ads over the course of a given year, but every so often something comes around so blatantly offensive that it merits special attention.
On the one hand of the spectrum we have the type of work awarded for the Cannes Glass Lion, which was introduced in 2015 to celebrating work combatting gender stereotypes. This year’s winner was VMLY&R Poland’s “The Last Ever Issue,” which saw the agency buy a pornographic magazine in Poland just to shut it down. (That’s not to say that Cannes Lions juries haven’t been guilty of misogyny themselves, but more on that later.)
…
While it would be tempting to dismiss this is as an aberration more at home in the Mad Men era, such sexist ads remain a problem in the industry. Despite its Glass Lion category, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has even awarded such work in recent years. In 2016, a Cannes jury awarded a bronze Lion in the outdoor category to an Almap BBDO campaign for Bayer aspirin which made suggestive references to the non-consensual filming of a sexual act with messages such as “‘Don’t Worry Babe, I’m Not Filming This’.Mov” in to reference the need for a pain reliever.
We look forward to a time when we don’t see such ads anymore. The U.K. took a step in that direction recently with a law expressly banning the use of harmful gender stereotypes in advertising.
Hi, my name is Henry Medina, CEO at Ogilvy Bolivia. ADWEEK took down the post you mention here -press the link and you will see what i tell you- because it was an idiomatic and cultural misunderstanding. If you watch the ad carefully, we reject the jerk’s behavior and that’s why the ad is called JERK.
Please watch the ad again and take down your post too because it is not objective and harms our image and our client’s image.
Thanks in advance. We know your intention was not to damage anyone.
Thank you Mr. Medina for your comment. This blog reproduces news related to Bolivia, so the rest of the world can understand better our daily lives. In this case, I just reproduced what appeared in reaction to that ad … I’m glad you were able to clarify with ADWEEK, it is incredibly getting harder to convey messages within actual “politically correct” universe … this is like a Ratner case in MKT …
What I think the best thing that BCP could do is a sequel to that and repair/send the proper message, to prevent that video from hunting both of you.
As for Bolivian Thoughts, I am happy you came to me so that we could update this misunderstanding. Thank you.