Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

When the United States understood energy policy and war...

Below, an ad run by Con Ed in 1943. The message was simple: sacrifice for the greater cause. Today there are those in Congress who want to open the country's strategic oil reserve to bring down prices. Right - we're at war, and countries that control the world's oil supply are not exactly our allies, but Congressmen want to use the country's oil reserve to win back their seats in the fall. Sell out the country to save their jobs. That was the stupid idea from the Democrats, as opposed to McCain's idiot idea of gas rebate. Glad to say neither idea went anywhere. But of course, the message when we went to war from the White House was simply go shopping. I weep for our nation and the ideals it was founded on.

The ad above can be found along with an amazing trove of historical print advertising from the last century at the Duke University online library.

Sunday Morning Cartoon: If You Were Gay

Avenue Q — the Broadway musical — has inspired a large number of animators and mash-up artists to create short films taking songs from the show and matching them to animation. One of the more popular songs to get this treatment is "If You Were Gay," a sweet song of sung by a straight character to his best friend and room mate, a closeted gay character. One of the more recent versions on YouTube features original animation:

But just as interesting are the mash ups taken from Japanese yayoi anime here, here and perhaps most brilliantly, here. There are versions edited to other films, like Austin Powers, and version edited to episodes of SpongeBob. Personally, I would love to see this mashed up with bits and pieces of old Laurel and Hardy films. Let me know if you find any that you think are particularly brilliant.

Plasticized Bodies, Advertising and the Illegal Trade in Organs

JWT in Shanghai is running some ads to convince the Chinese to donate organs, with a campaign for the Red Cross that shows organs with bodies inside

Am I on drugs or is there something really bizarre and disturbing about an organ donation campaign running in a country where prisoners have their organs removed (sometimes before execution) for sale?

The ad above, one of several, is supposed to be lungs though it looks like kidneys to me (does it remind you of the humans in pods in The Matrix?).  Others show livers and hearts. And it is true that is a shortage of organs for transplant. Only 50 to 60 kidneys are replaced a year in Hong Kong while the waiting list for transplants numbers around 500. But according to Human Rights Watch/Asia, about 2 to 3 thousand organs a year are cut from the bodies of executed Chinese prisoners. This is state sponsored theft (and desecration). I guess the ad campaign is encouraging private citizens to get a piece of the action, since transplant services are readily available to high ranking Party officials and cash-paying foreigners. Of course, there are those unfortunates who have their organs stolen. I seem to recall reading a science fiction novel about this in the 60s. Anyone recall what that might have been?

Here in New York City we have not avoided this controversy. Last year, 20/20 reported that the plasticized bodies in the extremely popular Bodies exhibit at the South Street Seaport were executed Chinese prisoners. The German doctor who invented the process that used to put these human bodies being put on display around the world, says he has stopped using bodies from China because some of them shows signs of torture. The exhibit in NYC now offers refunds after a lawsuit by the state attorney general.

I don’t know how much Chinese citizens know about the Bodies exhibit, but it certainly isn’t news on the street in Shanghai that there’s an illegal traffic in stolen organs. So what they must think when they see these ads? And what was the team at JWT thinking?

Oh yes, the images are striking, and you have to look at them. True. And that’s the first job of advertising — to get you to stop and pay attention. But this doesn’t go on to persuade me of anything other than being certain not to accept drinks from strangers in a Shanghai bar.

That's the advertising exec speaking. Now let's hear from the Jewish Buddhist. One of the many meditations taught by the Buddha was the charnel ground meditation — one was supposed to sit amidst the burned and decomposing bodies to meditate on the impermanence of one's own body. In the Buddha's time, there were places where the remains were left to decompose or be eaten by wild animals. Because there are no charnel grounds in New York City — or much anywhere anymore — Buddhist monks have been going to the Bodies exhibit to take on this meditation. Certainly seeing these bodies is a powerful experience of the fragility and impermanence of our physical nature.

However the Jew in me recoils at this practice — and at the exhibit. Just as a living person is the image of the Divine, so to the remains, which should have its integrity, at least until it naturally decomposes. This very reaction is interesting though. The Buddhist in me says this is about attachment to the body. So I'm going to have to sit with this. Perhaps I will use the JWT ads as a meditation mandala on this subject.

Beyond gender: The secret name of God as a clue to the divine androgyne and the union of opposites

Judaism is a non-dual religion. However, many people believe that the deity of the Hebrew Bible is masculine rather than beyond gender — inclusive of both male and female and thus both and neither. Rabbi Mark Sameth is advancing an interesting theory about the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew 4 letter name of God that is never spoken. 

Rabbi Sameth says that the four-letter Hebrew name for God should actually be read in reverse. When the four letters are turned around he says, the new name makes the sounds of the Hebrew words for "he" and "she."

This makes God a dual-gendered deity. And after all, if as the myth says, we are made in God's image, and "male and female created he them," then clearly God is male and female even if Hebrew, as a gendered language, is incapable of expressing that directly.

Katherine Kurs, a religion scholar who teaches at New School University, who edited the amazing "Searching for Your Soul" and who is an associate minister at West-Park (Presbyterian) Church in Manhattan, was interviewed by LoHud.com, where this story first broke. And she captured it perfectly when she said: "This God is not a male or even a female but a male-female or female-male, a God that holds tension and paradox, a full-spectrum bandwidth God."

To look at it another traditionally mystic way, the divine Ayn Sof is boundless, boundaryless and thus includes all. This is not your grandfather's hairy thunderer in the sky.

Rabbi Irwin Kula wrote once that at a dinner party when challenged by an atheist about that rather punishing parental god, he said "I don't believe in the God you don't believe in either."

But a deity that transcends, includes and unifies? Beyond gender and personality? That's an expression of the divine worthy of prayer — and for me, prayer is simply singing love songs to the divine, filled with gratitude for creation. And while not a psalm, there are no finer words to express this for me than e.e cummings poem:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Homophobia & Advertising: Bob Garfield's Column

Ad Age columnist Bob Garfield sent an open letter in his column to the CEO of one of the top agency holding companies, accusing the network of homophobia in several campaigns. He wrote:

"Stop the dehumanizing stereotypes. Stop the jokey violence. There is no place in advertising for cruelty. Pull the campaign. Do it now."

Strong language. And I have to say, the Snickers campaign, which was roundly pilloried when it broke during the Super Bowl (a ritual of homo erotic masculinity that requires homophobic expression to distract us from the obvious), continues to be abhorrent. It glorifies homophobic violence, and Garfield says of the newest addition to the campaign that:

"your commercial is just a cartoonish recapitulation of {Matthew Shepard's] brutal murder"

Strong words. It is heartening to see heterosexual columnists take offense and speak up. Of course, to pin this on the CEO of the holding company seems a little too much. The CEO of the offending agencies? Sure. They are responsible. And bringing to the attention of the holding company isn't a bad thing. Pressure from the outside to an agency is one thing. Pressure from the holding company — that's serious.

Perhaps even more fascinating are the reader comments — there are lots. If you're interested in reading real opinions from people in the ad biz on the subject of homophobia in media, this is a goldmine of information.

But let's stop for a minute to analyze just what is going on in this new Snicker's spot. First we see a blond man with soft features speed walking down a suburban street. The camera cuts to a rear view and rests for a few precious TV seconds on his wiggling butt.

Next, a vehicle with Mr. T. crashes through a house and follows the walker while Mr. T harangues him for being a "disgrace to the man race." Visually we see the machine gun from the POV of the shooter (very video game, because of course this is targeted at insecure teen boys and young men who need to be reassured about their masculinity — after all, there is nothing more masculine than playing with a computer right?) pointed directly at aforesaid butt.

Uhhhh, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But in this case? Not. Just more subconscious homosexual desire expressed in violence.

But this is where Garfield is dead on the money — the spot makes a violent response to inner desires that are unacceptable, acceptable. And that's unacceptable. One commenter points out that regardless of the agency, the clients bought off on this. So as much as I may love chocolate, Mars doesn't get any of my money. And I'm sure GLAAD will consider some action around this:

Yep, that's pretty damn bad. So while the holding company Mr. Garfield accuses does in fact treat its gay employees very well, this is seriously uncool. There are different opinions in the business classically about our influence.

One of my heroes, Bill Bernbach, one said:

"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level."

David Ogilvy, who believed that humor in advertising was a mistake, said:

"Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them."

The truth lies somewhere in between. Nevertheless, I hold with Bernbach.

 

His Master's Voice: Excerpts from the Biography of Mr. Peabody's Boy Sherman

Mr. Peabody was dead. Even with the Way-Back Machine at his disposal the old hound couldn't outrun time, couldn't escape the truth that dog years add up fast. Now Sherman was alone. He wasn't anybody's boy anymore. In fact, at 44 years of age he wasn't really a boy at all, though he still felt like one.

His red hair had faded to a pale rust, as surely as the memory of his adventures had corroded in the Alzheimer-ridden minds of the early boomers.

There was a time when all time had been his playground. Ceasar's Rome. Custer's Last Hot Dog Stand. Napoleon's conquest of the pastry shop. Unfortunately, the Way-Back Machine only sent him back. If he had seen his future, this future, he would have done things differently.

At least that's what he told himself. Except that without Mr. Peabody to tell him what to do, he never knew what to do at all. And now, with the old dog gone, Sherman was lost.

He missed finding tufts of Peabody's hair on the divan. The long walks in the pre-Columbian woods of the Eastern seaboard. Fetching his pipe and curling up on the carpet before the fire while Peabody read to him from Livy, Herodotus and the complete works of Professor Irwin Corey.

Now he was alone and heart broken. The Way-Back Machine was broken too — beyond repair. And Sherman was stuck in the here and now. No more living in the past.

So he went to sit on the street corner, trying to look hopeful and bright eyed, yearning for some young wag to take him home. But he was invisible to these frisky young pups that passed him by without a sniff. They were a new breed and embarrassed by his age.

No, he couldn't expect a new dog in his future. Peabody's last words rang in his ears: "Sherman, you've been a faithful friend. But now it's time for me to take my last nap. You're your own boy now. But never forget, you were Peabody's boy Sherman. You've got real intelligence, don't let your talent go to waste."

Peabody was right. He'd been a good boy, but now it was time to learn some new tricks. He was going to learn to be his own man.

Sunday Morning Cartoon: Queer Eye for the Moose Guy

I've always been a big fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle. Even more so of Dr. Peabody and his boy Sherman. When asked in those idiotic online personal questionnaires what celebrity I look like I always say Peabody's Boy Sherman, grown up. But more on that later....

So here they are, Boris and Natasha, Moose and Squirrel, in an odd tribute to reality television, such as it is.

The Interrobang: Americans Are Torturing Prisoners At Gitmo?!?!

No, the interrobang is not a new style of violent interrogation akin to waterboarding. It is a punctuation mark created by a real Mad Man, advertising executive Martin K. Speckter in 1962. A combination of the question mark and exclamation point, it is used at the end of a sentence to convey astonishment, disbelief or to ask a rhetorical question.

The word itself comes from a combination of the printer’s jargon for the question mark “the interrogation point” and the exclamation point — the “bang.” Unfortunately, the use of an interrobang at the end of the question in the headline is appropriate, since the fact that we are torturing prisoners is astonishing, unbelievable, and unfortunately true as Jane Mayer's appalling book, “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals,” proves beyond a doubt. Perhaps we will read a headline that ends with an interrobang someday that says "Bush Administration Officials Arrested For War Crimes!?"

Speckter's new punctuation mark never caught on, even though Specter used it in ads his agency created for accounts like The Wall Street Journal. Seems much more appropriate to use for a tabloid though.

It actually appeared on a typewriter (not however the Hermes model used by Douglas Adams that is currently up for auction) in the 60s. It was on a Remington that I’d like to add to my collection of Empires, Royals, Olivettis, Hammonds, Olivers, Smiths and Franklins. (Yes, I am afflicted with the collecting bug, and as a writer, typewriters speak to me.

And typographers include it with some fonts. It’s even available on many computers. On a Mac, four different versions can be found in the wingdings 2 font. Simply hit the ` ~ key, the ] } key, the 6 ^ key, or the - _ key and you'll be able to add this unusual punctuation to your documents.

I have to say, I don’t like the use of it in advertising. It’s kind of cheap, like the star burst, which is hated by creatives and loved by clients everywhere. In fact, a rather amusing ad was posted today to adsoftheworld by an agency in Columbia that addressed just this issue of the star burst. You can see it below — it adds to my collection of print ads that use a toilet as the location of the action.

However, I do think the interrobang works well in comic books, and one typographer has created a variation of the interrobang for the Fritz font that I like very much, seen at right. And I do think the more traditional(!) interrobang works well in a tabloid. Both are less formal venues. Which brings me to this venue: while the interrobang exists in some Unicode fonts, I can’t seem to be able to use it here except as a graphic. Too bad.

Then there is the symbol that appears almost entirely on the web: the copyright question mark. I have yet to determine its proper use though. Unlike copyleft, which offers up the usage of the material for non-profit use with proper attribution, I assume the copyright question mark is used when a web publisher uses material of uncertain copyright status, and wishes to make that known.

So what would a copyright interrobang mean?

The Plight of the Bumblebee: Viral Ad Campaign That Leaves A Bitter Taste

Häagen Dazs has placed an entertaining if somewhat long video on YouTube to drive viewers to a site about the urgent problem of colony collapse and mass die-offs of bees.

The die off is just another sign that we are destroying our environment, and that the system that supports our own food chain is in serious danger. But that’s not why I bring up the campaign.

As an advertising creative, I get frustrated when an interesting and fun idea to publicize an important issue is ruined by poor user experience. Just another sign that the social network environment is being polluted by poorly thought through work.

At least the video is fun. But if you decide to go to the site, helpthehoneybee.com it’s first and foremost a site for Häagen Dazs, that requires yet another click to if you want to do something to help.  So once you click again, you get another introductory screen, no product this time, but you still have to click again to “join the mission.” To top it off, loading time is for the animation is slow and the show isn't worth the wait. But I waited for two reasons — first because the cause interests me. And of course out of professional intereste.

So finally we get to a page with bees in a field and a hive menu that takes yet another minute to reveal itself. Finally there is a choice that says “How You Can Help.” First time I click on it, all I get is an instruction to explore the meadow. Tells me that different plants and flowers are important. Stop the presses on this news. So I try the “How You Can Help” menu again.

This time it takes me to some copy that offers me a lesson plan (I didn’t see where this was directed to teachers, but okay) and several other paths to take: Plant a Seed, Donate, Help The Beekeepers, and Tell A Friend.

Seems donating might be something to do to help. Click there and you learn Häagen Dazs is giving money to two universities to study the problem. And you can too. Okay, so if you decide to donate to Penn State you’re sent to a Penn page that doesn’t refer to bees at all. You’re just giving money to the university. Not very satisfying. But you’ve taken a lot of time to learn that Häagen Dazs is giving money to solve this problem. They could have told me that at the end of the video. Well. What else?  Okay, if you click back on the main menu to learn what else they are doing they repeat the donation claim, and then mention their new ice cream flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee.

Tell A Friend? Here is at least a fun viral component where you get to design your own cool looking bee and send it to friends so they can learn Häagen Dazs is giving money on a slow and clunky site. Not very original, but cute nonetheless. Why do I feel Ben & Jerry would have done a better job?

Good idea. Lame execution. And I don't feel that I've helped the bees in any way. I feel I've taken a long time for a PR message. Not so sweet guys.

Politics, Religion and Mass Hysteria: A True Masterpiece of Cinema, Ken Russell’s The Devils.

Religion has been used to generate mass hysteria for political ends for thousands of years now. But there have been few films that show the process so clearly. Ken Russell’s film, The Devils is the movie about EVERYTHING: the spirituality and lust in love; the madness and transcendence of sexual repression; using the threat of an imagined enemy to create state sponsored terror; justifying the use of torture to extract forced confession…. Watching this movie one can imagine the twisted and tortured mind of Roy Cohn while watching Vanessa Redgrave suffer the madness of desires that she demonizes and projects onto others. Not to mention the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard, Larry Craig and so on and so on.

This is a truly important movie. And it is simply criminal that it isn’t available on DVD. The VHS tape version is poor quality, and it has been cut. However there is a petition to Warner Home Video. And if you’ve seen this film and want to make sure others can, please sign the petition. If you’ve haven’t seen the film, read what others have to say about it, and then sign the petition.