Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

Superbowl Exposed: The real reason they couldn't show a ManCrunch commercial...

Between the butt shots from below of the players, to the butt shots of the men in the Dockers Superbowl commercial, showing a spot for ManCrunch would expose just how truly homoerotic football is.

Queering the Icon: Marilyn Monroe, Dean's Scotch and Yasumasa Morimura

The image of Marilyn Monroe standing above the subway grate as a gust a air blows her dress up high is an American cultural icon of the 20th Century. Nicholas Roeg's film, Insignificance, opens with the the filming of this famous scene in The Seven Year Itch re-imagined from the POV of the film crew — and the man under the grating who turned on the fan. Roeg's film, far from camp, is among other things a meditation on the prison of sexism: my favorite scene in that film is when Monroe, with the aid of toys bought at F.A.O Schwarz, explains the theory of relativity to its author, Albert Einstein.

In the ad below, this image is appropriated once again, in the service of selling Dean's Scotch:

Created by a team at Scholz & Friends NRW in Germany, their explanation, at Adsoftheworld.com notes that:

"Dean’s Whisky is especially mild. Which is why it appeals not only to rugged guys. The advertisement’s unusually humorous, feminine look and feel are designed to arouse the interest of a new target group and raise awareness of Dean’s Whisky above and beyond its loyal customer base."

Arouse the interest? Who is this new target base? Is this ad running at gay magazines in Germany? In women's fashion magazines? Inquiring minds want to know.

Scotch is one of the few hard liquors that retains an aura of masculine privilege. This might have the effect of undermining their image with the base customer. This isn't to say that I don't like the ad. I think it's hilarious and playful. The image of a man in a regimental kilt uniform is hardly fey. There is every possibility that the core consumer for this product is secure enough so that if they saw this ad they'd laugh. Then again, because this is a "mild" Scotch, it might not have very much of a base with the traditional Scotch drinker, so that an effort like this won't hurt.

I wonder what Marilyn would make of it though. Or what she'd make of the photographs of Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura. I first saw an exhibit of his self portraits at the Saatchi Gallery in London: images of the artist in drag as Marilyn, Audrey Hepburn, Garbo, Liza Minelli. You can see the photos on the gallery site, where the question is asked:

"Morimura is more than just art's most famous drag queen. Dealing with issues of cultural and sexual appropriation he is constantly exploring ideas of image consumption, identity and desire: Can Brigitte Bardot be as innocently flirtatious with angular Japanese features? Would Marilyn Monroe be as sexy if she was Japanese - and a man?"

Having lived in Japan where I both enjoyed and endured drag acts where these Western film icons were portrayed by Japanese men, I was less interested in the questions posed above than the questions around Japanese identity and the effect of Hollywood and American cultural dominance on the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. I am curious about what the reaction to images is in the debate/discussion about the feminization of Asian men in the West within the Asian and gay Asian communities.

Within the discussion of constructed femininity, Morimura throws a light on the minstrelsy of Marilyn; how her image was just as much a creation out of the fantasies of men as Thomas D. Rice's blackface Jumpin' Jim Crow was a creation out of the fantasies of white men in the 19th Century of black men. 

Good grief, I hope to God I am not turning into a queer theorist. Ewww.

ManCrunch and Millions of Dollars of Free Advertising

Hey, I'm a gay man in the ad business. A single man, seriously looking to find a partner to settle down with. So I like to think I know what online dating services are out there — and whether they're any good or not. Except that last week I learned about ManCrunch — without them spending a dime on media advertising. That doesn't mean they weren't on the airwaves, or all over the net.

As just about all gay men who pay attention to media representation know, ManCrunch submitted a TV spot to CBS for the SuperBowl. They had to know it wouldn't be accepted. I doubt they even had the budget to run the spot even though the company claims they offered a cash payment. But the attendant media firestorm around the submission and turn down got the spot play on websites and cable TV comedy shows nationally.

This is a brilliant strategy of playing the media. And Reuters nails it in a story about ManCrunch and GoDaddy. Now if there were only a brilliant strategy to find a guy online for something serious. And believe me, I'm not looking for someone who wants to watch the Super Bowl with me. Unless it's to fast forward to the advertising.

Is Facebook Going Amazon On Us? Social Networking, Homophobia, Advertising and Censorhip

Gay activist and prolific author, Perry Brass, finds that his latest book, The Manly Art of Seduction, has been banned from advertising on Facebook. This is peculiar, since I've seen advertising for male "massage" therapists on Facebook who offer services that are not part of the licensing process. Not that I am in favor of FB posting those "massage" ads. If you're looking for that sort of think you know where to go. But Perry's book is not of that order. It's about how men connect with men — energetically, romantically, spiritually, physically, emotionally, sexually. And since you can buy it on the famously messed up for gay writers, Amazon, FB shouldn't have a problem with it. But they seem to, as noted here at Out In Jersey.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in learning some of these skills first hand, Perry's got a workshop in NYC on the 20th of this month at the Center. I imagine it will be a lot of fun — and enlightening on many levels. 

The casual inhumanity on display in Elderplan advertising...the commercial as Freudian slip.

Elderplan is a supplemental Medicare plan that runs advertising in NYC — advertising that while fairly easy to follow for those eligible, displays a shocking insensitivity. If you've ever worked as a telemarketer — if you've ever had to take a job cold-calling people or taking 800 number calls — you know how hard it can be, and how employers try to keep you on your headset without a break, regardless of biological, physical or psychological needs. So when the spokesperson on this commercial, after delivering the sell, turns around to see one of the phone reps getting up, her response is "Hey, where are you going?"

And while this might convey to the target that they'll get through, there's no waiting on hold for a rep, it also conveys the messages that this employer — and Elderplan — has little care for the needs of its employees. Which leads one to question how they might really feel about thetheir customers when they're in need. 

I have no idea what the copywriter, the agency or the client thought when they made this spot. But as both a copywriter — and a former telemarketing rep — I am offended. Pardon me, Elderplan, but your Shadow is showing.

How hot are Bertolli Oven Baked Meals? When two sexy men kiss, it's really hot.

Yep, in this TV commercial for Bertolli (running exclusively on Logo) there's a sexy kiss planted on the cheek of the "hero" of the spot. The fantasy sequence is fun, and the reality our hero comes back to is even better. Three cheers for Bertolli and Unilever. I know whose pasta I'm purchasing.

My first copywriting assignment at Ted Bates in 1977: Playtex and being playfully sexy.

It took me almost two years to get my first job as a copywriter — and I started in what were really the last throes of the Mad Men days. There was a recession at the time, and after I finished classes at SVA in putting together a portfolio, I sent cover letters with photocopies of 3 of my ad samples to over 200 creative directors at agencies around NYC. Remember, I was typing each of those letters individually — and because I had researched the accounts they were responsible for, I did my best to make each pitch for an interview relevant to their business.  

Eventually I was hired at Ted Bates — one of the megalithic firms of the day. I worked at 1515 Broadway, when Times Square was at its seediest. And my first day on the job, I was given this assignment:   Playtex, which was known for its “cross your heart” bra, which “lifts and separates” was going to introduce a girdle that was meant to have a similar effect on the butt. They wanted to name this new product — and they were willing to be somewhat racy.  

I thought to myself, they’re paying me for this! And I went to work, with a yellow pad and pen jotting down names. My creative director was happy with my suggestions. But of course, the client didn’t choose any of them — and in fact, they went the conservative route with the name, despite their original request.  

I kept the list. And so here, 32 years later are just a few of the silly things I wrote down that I was paid a salary for:  

• Honey Buns
  
• Radical Cheek
  
• Fanny Pants
  
• Rear View
  
• Hot Seat
• Bunny Hot
  
• Tush Tush
  
• Lush Tush
• Bun Huggers
  

Today, it’s a different business. But when done right, it should still inspire laughter. I’m not a junior copywriter anymore. And while I’m freelancing after 17 years as a Creative Director, I’m grateful for this hilarious career that has enabled me to sharpen my strategic thinking, and get paid for making things up.

The Gay-O-Meter

What is the correlation between homophobia and attraction to men in the same person? This ad for a website in New Zealand makes the case that Max Blumenthal so eloquently makes in his book, Republican Gomorrah.

Curmudgeonly Rant: Typewriters and Copywriters, Copy and "Verbiage"

A Chilean advertising agency has created a campaign for a copywriter's award show that uses typewriters as the, pardon me, key visual.

As a copywriter, and a collector of typewriters, this gives me an opportunity to vent a little on the subject of just what it is that I write. I write copy. When an account person says, "I need some verbiage here," my blood boils.

The word verbiage means an excess of words. I think of it as meaning verbal garbage. The Random House dictionary defines verbiage as "overabundance or superfluity of words, as in writing or speech; wordiness; verbosity." A repetitive definition that becomes, in fact, what it is defining.

The American Heritage dictionary definition is much simpler: "An excess of words for the purpose."

Of course, some art directors think any words are an excess. And I must admit, in the class I teach on headline writing, I spend a good deal of time teaching students the value of visual headlines, or visuals that are so clever and compelling they don't need a headline. But this opinion, that any words are too many, and thus not copy, but verbiage, is something that transcends cultures, as this ad by Brother, the aforesaid agency:

 

The headline translates as "This copy is meant to mess with the art director who said the image works by itself."

Love it. But what really stopped me when I came across this ad tonight on Ads of the World, was the Oliver typewriter. I have an Oliver — it's unusual and gracefully swooping wings of type and its olive color make it a very distinctive machine. And built like a tank, there are still thousands of these machines around and in working order, more than 100 years after they came of the assembly line. In this ad though, you'll notice that the product is named Revilo (Oliver backwards). The Oliver name was already a registered trademark in some places, and thus the company used their name backwards to avoid paying a licensing or royalty fee.

The campaign also shows a Hammond Multiplex (these are circa 1913 or so) which as you can see below, does not use type bars, but rather a type cylinder not unlike the type ball of the IBM Selectric. The cylinder was easily replaceable, making it a popular tool for scientists and mathematicians, who use special characters and symbols. And those who write in more than one language. I also have a Hammond Multiplex (as well as a Franklin, a Corona 3, several Royals, a couple of Olivettis, an Empire, a Smith Premium #2 as well as a Remington Noiseless — and I long to add a Blickensderfer 7 in good condition to the list someday).

 

But to return to my bugaboo word, verbiage, for a moment. The people who use this word don't know what it means. But unconsciously, I believe, they are displaying their disrespect for the craft and for words, by using it. It's used dismissively. And I take umbrage.

On my portfolio site, there is a photo of a typewriter ribbon tin that's also part of my collection. And it uses the word that describes what I produce.

 

I know some snarky reader out there will no doubt say that this post is in fact an example of verbiage. The style I use on this blog, often filled with long parentheticals, isn't the way I write copy — to be a good copywriter is to take on, or create, the voice of your client. If you don't like my blog writing style, I could care less. I like having someplace to use words like bugaboo and umbrage in the same paragraph, and I enjoy readers who enjoy words in the same way I do. That's the blog. Don't like it? Click off.

My copy however, is never verbiage.

Groping for words: An awareness campaign for testicular cancer — and the risk factors for gay men and cancer

The local office of McCann Erickson ran this very funny (and I am sure homophobia inducing) campaign for awareness among men of how to check for testicular cancer. Using guerilla tactics of die-cut hands placed strategically on seats and elsewhere to grope the family jewels of men in gyms, sports stadiums, car washes, pool halls...this campaign, at least according to the agency led to an 11% increase in doctor visits where men asked about the disease and examination. And to get any man to go to the doctor, much less ask about something like this is no easy feat. Now add to the fact that this campaign ran in Macedonia, where the macho ethic of hyper-masculinity is quite alive and well in the culture, and the success of the campaign is all the more praiseworthy.

Of course, gay men who were watching Queer As Foik several years back got the low down on this when in season 4, Brian was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While prostate cancer (which I've written about previously) is something more worrisome over the age of 50, testicular cancer has a higher risk of occurring in white men between the ages of 15 and 40.

Gay men don't always have gay doctors. Or aren't always out to their doctors. Or their straight doctors aren't always aware of certain risk factors.

For example, gay men who have contracted HPV (the human papilloma virus, less likely in these days of safer sex) anally, are at a higher risk for anal cancer. Just as women who have contracted HPV are at a higher risk for cervical cancer and get a Pap test regularly, gay men who have been on the receiving side of anal sex and have had HPV should certainly be getting a DRE from the doctor every year (certainly as part of a prostate exam) since this can help detect anal cancer as well. A more recent development is the "anal pap smear" which takes a swab to look for anal intraepithelial neoplasia. This was not something that was talking about much, but the death of Farrah Fawcett from anal cancer made it a little more top of mind — so if you're a bottom at risk, consider regular testing. 

You can get more information about the particular cancer risks faced by gay men from the American Cancer Society in a downloadable brochure.

As gay men, we spend a lot of time focused on HIV, and rightly so given how many we have lost, and how many continue to become infected. But there are other health issues that need to be spoken of. If the men of Macedonia can get over their squeamishness and having a doctor squeeze their balls, the gay men of the US can arm themselves with the right information to live healthier lives.