Account people complain all the time that creative people are narcissistic and immature. They're just jealous.
That said, I was rather struck by the homo-erotic narcissism on display in a series of ads for an award contest sponsored by an outdoor advertising firm that creates bus shelters as ad vehicles in Australia and elswhere.
In each of a series of ads we see two people — and one is putting the moves on the other. One is clearly aggressively interested. The two people are dressed differently, one in rather every day clothes and the other dressed for hunting. Except they are both the same person. The campaign line is Embrace Your Ego. As though this were a problem in most creative departments. There are several ads which show two men. But of course, the video features two women, with the aggressive ego seducing and kissing the more subdued creative persona.
This is no surprise of course since creative departments are almost always overwhelmingly male and thus a fantasy of two women (and because they are the same person really the fantasy can be about twins for extra kink value) kissing catches attention. And showing two men would be way too threatening.
For that reason I have to give the team credit for in fact having any print ads with men at all, much less several. However I suspect rather than embracing the ego, this campaign puts the teams' id on display. Don't need a degree or a consult with the DSM-III for that diagnosis. Just a familiarity with Forbidden Planet.
Comments