Posted by Kyra on May 13th, 2008 
1 Comment
Last week, I saw an article in AdAge that suggested that one of the world’s most famous ‘touch up’ artists, Pascal Dangin, had a hand in making the women in the Real Beauty campaign look gorgeous. Even though Unilever and Dangin have made statements denying the reports, AdAge maintains that it will still “go down as a footnote in advertising history or rate among its biggest scandals, alongside Campbell’s marbles in the soup.”
Really.
Since the success of their Evolution campaign, Dove has been the viral video darling of the marketing world. Everyone wants their online efforts to come out smelling like 1/4 moisturizing lotion. But that sort of success can’t be plucked out of the cosmetics aisle and let’s face it - everybody’s a bit jealous. And my feeling is that, last week when this rumour emerged, a lot of people would have gladly seen Dove go on trial for their alleged mistake.
Even if they did do skin tone touch ups or got rid of minor blemishes on the Real Beauty models … would that really make their campaign somehow bogus? For me the idea is the most beautiful thing about the Dove brand and their recent marketing efforts. Some readers of AdAge’s coverage of the ’scandal’ agreed:
Several readers commenting on Ad Age’s Thursday story saw the controversy as a tempest in a teapot. “The issue is being massively blown out of proportion,” said one. “Retouching to adjust skin tones, remove shadows, or combine two or more photos from the same session for the sake of shot composition is commonplace and completely ethical.”
“I think we are losing sight of what this campaign is really about — loving your own body,” said another reader. “Even if the photo was retouched a bit, it still conveys the fact that all women are beautiful, no matter what size or shape.”
Another great follow up story that looks at how Dove/Oglivy/Unilever could have dealt with the situation can be found here.
Posted by Sandra on April 30th, 2008 Leave a Comment
We are on cloud nine around the office all because “our” Terry Fallis has been named the winner of the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Terry, a guy with a biomechanical engineering degree and a love of words, decided to write about what he knows best — politics, engineering and people – in his first novel “Best Laid Plans”.
The thrill of seeing someone you know and work with honoured with this medal is, well, more than we all would have expected. Considering we spend much of our workday dealing with the media on a full range of stories, finding Terry on cbc.ca today after popping up in the likes of the Toronto Star on the weekend is amazing. And we didn’t have to send a pitch or pick up a phone.
This was no mean feat for Terry to achieve. When he couldn’t find a publisher for his idea he podcast the book, chapter by chapter, and then figured out how he could publish it himself. Once he managed to get it into some bookstores and on to Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca he was amazed that people actually bought it. He even seemed surprised to have so many people tell him they found the story charming and interesting.
Congratulations from the Girlz and everyone else at Thornley Fallis. Now, can we get you to sign our copies? Oh, and what about that sequel?
Posted by mmj on April 29th, 2008 3 Comments
Miley Cyrus dominates the entertainment news, again. This time, the teenage star of “Hannah Montana” created uproar because of a portrait by Annie Liebovitz that appeared in Vanity Fair. Even if we have seen more of High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens, even if Anne Hathaway can play a dirty rich girl in Brokeback Mountain, and even though novelists and artists have been documenting the sexuality of teenagers for millennia, this is deemed “newsworthy”.
Again, we are confronted by the elastic boundaries governing the ethics of publicity and public relations.
According to Wikipedia, “Ethics is not limited to specific acts and defined moral codes, but encompasses the whole of moral ideals and behaviors, a person’s philosophy of life.” So let’s apply this — let’s pretend that Miley is your client. How would you go about promoting her? To what end would you go to promote her?
We know that Miley is a well known brand. She’s completed a huge tour. Hannah Montana is a well-known Disney brand. She has a new movie coming out in 2009.
Anything current? Nope. So whaddya do? You find the story or make the story.
You see, the media are hungry. Feed ‘em or they go hunting. So, that sort of brings me back to the second consideration: To what end would you go?
- Would you create a controversy? We know that controversy sells, especially in the US and the national bias towards the reactionary. She would gain top-of-mind name recognition with an expanded audience, and maybe lose a few more conservative constituents. However, a well-timed, well-worded apology would take care of that.
Would you extend the brand footprint of Miley Cyrus to include new audiences, namely boys/ men/ whoever might support her into her adult years as well? It worked for Hayden Pannettiere, didn’t it? And truly, something’s gotta launch her out of the Disney realm into adulthood.
You see, the thing that is not sitting well for me in this controversy is that I think that it was good PR for Miley Cyrus regardless of age. My husband, who would not have known her name before Sunday, emailed this to me from a photography web site. And by using his case example of one, this tactic worked. Now he knows who she is.
I also believe that it was executed ethically. Values are fickle in North America. As a society, as quickly as we condemn the girl for demonstrating her burgeoning sexuality, we will forgive her. We find the reason (“it was the photographers fault”) accept it and move on. She is Hannah Montana after all. We the society that Brooke Shields asked “What comes between me and Calvin Kleins?” and then went onto Princeton and now is a spokesperson for all things mother-positive. And didn’t Drew Barrymore weather her drug scandal well?
To say that this was anything other than a ethical publicity ploy would be hypocritical and you needn’t look further than the catwalks and editorial photography in fashion magazines. They are filled with teens. These are the teens that peer down from billboards, act in TV shows and commercials have the ability, rightly or wrongly, to inspire girls as much as a Miley Cyrus does.
Fundamentally, I have a hard time believing that she did this against her will. I don’t believe she was misled in anyway. (Neither does Jamie Lee Curtis, apparently.) The result is an artistic image. The interpretation by its audience is the less wholesome thing.
The Miley Cyrus brand footprint was extended with a controversial and beautiful photo by a modern photography icon. She was vindicated by a seemingly heart-felt apology. She still works for Disney. Tell me, where is the downside?
Posted by Joscelyn on March 31st, 2008 8 Comments
I’ve been known to be a contrarian. For some reason I like to go against the grain, just for the sake of being contrary. So when I was thinking about Earth Hour and what I really thought of it and considered writing it down, I made myself take a step back and let the thoughts percolate for a couple of days before I committed a long cynical rant to the internet. But after letting it fester a couple of days, my opinions haven’t changed. And after hearing what other’s thought on the radio, or reading what they thought online, I realized I’m not alone on this. I think Earth Hour is a crock.
It made a whole lot of people feel good to participate and allowed a whole lot more to be snide towards people who chose not to take part. It put a lot of pressure on businesses to “do the right thing” by turning off office tower lights and the ones who didn’t were shunned and booed. But did it have any kind of lasting effect? I’m fairly sure office towers were alight last night and will be bright tonight and tomorrow and so on. Lights were blazing again in homes last night, will be tonight and tomorrow (you get the picture). Offices should be turning off their lights on their own. They shouldn’t do it simply to succumb to PR pressure from the World Wildlife Fund. People should be careful about their electricity consumption all the time, not just for one measly hour because the media and your neighbours tell you to.
I do my best to only have the light on in the room I’m currently in. It’s not always easy and I do forget, but I do my best and I’m usually pretty good about it. We recycle A LOT. We have a blue bin for paper, a blue bin for everything else and a green bin for organics. There are a lot of people out there who do far more for the environment than I. There are far more people out there who do far less. Will those people step up and starting monitoring their electricity consumption now? A couple might, maybe for a little while. But not because they have chosen to; because they feel pressured to. And while some might argue that it doesn’t matter how they get there, so long as they do, I would argue that people who do things out of pressure and not willful desire, will not do so for long.
I have a friend who was very eager to take part in Earth Hour. She was going to go down to the concert in Nathan Philips Square and be all involved and take a stand and all that good stuff. And she did do that all that. She also left her computer on while she was downtown and drove a Jeep down there instead of taking public transit. I would venture a guess that she wasn’t alone. To me, those people missed the whole point. They heard “turn out the lights” but didn’t factor in the effect leaving home electronics on and driving has on the environment. We still have a long way to go.
Yes, Earth Hour bought some awareness to the cause, which is always a good thing. But at the end of day when the lights were back on and the city was buzzing with neon signs, did anything really come of it?
Posted by Joscelyn on February 15th, 2008 12 Comments
I watch Breakfast TV every morning and have done so for quite some time. I like the casual-ness of it, how the hosts make mistakes and roll with it and just look like they’re having an all around good time. When Dina took over for Liza over a year ago, I was all for it. I liked Liza, but was happy with their choice and thought Dina fit in well. She and Kevin get along, I like her interview style, she isvery comfortable in her role without being over the top. She’s also gorgeous. But this morning? She messed up but good.
It all started with a viewer writing in saying that yesterday’s Sunshine Girl in the Toronto Sun looked a lot like Dina. So they showed the picture and well, she kind of does! She had a good chuckle about it and we seemingly moved on. Well, a quick thinking Sun employee called the newsroom at City asking if Dina would be interested in being a Sunshine girl. Now, I don’t necessarily think she should or shouldn’t do it. Not a great fan of the Sunshine Girl. But Dina went a little too far. Kevin pushed it a bit, the audience was supportive, Dina said something along the lines of “my father would never allow it!” and went on and on. And on. She went too far. She tried to backtrack a little and soften the blow.
Like I said, I’m not a fan, but if those girls want to do that, go right ahead. I’m not judging. Dina did. And it became uncomfortable. Kevin managed to keep it light and got some good jokes about muffins in the mix (you had to be there). But overall, if I’m that Sunshine Girl, I’m seriously offended.
I think she crossed the line and for a successful woman on TV who just happens to be gorgeous? People in glass houses… Just sayin’
Posted by Joscelyn on January 29th, 2008 6 Comments
I was at the gym last night in my own little world, thoughts percolating and I was suddenly shocked to realize “hey, this could be a blog post!” Obviously, we Girlz aren’t having so many of those moments lately…
Now to be honest, this isn’t really a PR topic…though maybe you could make the argument that it is in some ways. (Gee Jos, you’re finally writing a post, get to the point, will ya?) So in case you didn’t know, I’m American. Not dual, just American. Now I’ve lived here since I was three and am a permanent resident (so yes, I can work here legally) but my passport is American. And I can vote on Super Tuesday next week in the California primaries. As it happens, I’ll be there then for a family thing so it works out quite well. Here’s where you come in: I can’t decide who to vote for. At first I thought it might seem unethical to ask internet strangers who I should vote for, but upon further reflection I realized that this year’s candidates are waging their battles more and more in the online space. Youtube, Myspace, they’re there. Many of them have blogs on their main site. So why shouldn’t I use this blog as a testing ground?
Here’s what you need to know to help. I’m a card carrying Democrat. Ok fine, I don’t carry a card (do they have a card?) but you get the point. It’s either Hillary or Barack. And I can’t decide.
I think Hillary has more experience. I like her. She’s intelligent, well-spoken and would make a fine leader of a country in need of such a thing. Bill’s indiscretions? Give me a break. He made a mistake, an error in judgment. Did that cost the Americans anything? No- it was personal but because he was the President and he chose an attention-wh**e, it became front page news. Bush’s “errors in judgment” have cost THOUSANDS of Americans and Iraqis their lives and has seriously damaged the US economy. Don’t get me started. Bill, in some ways, is a huge asset for Hillary. In other ways, I see him as a liability. He will have to stay out of the limelight while she’s in office so as not to take the focus off of her. I think he can do a lot as “First Laddie” but it will have to be under the radar and I don’t know if that’s possible. So that concerns me.
Barack is charismatic and I like him too. Goes without saying that he’s also intelligent and when I see him in interviews, he comes off very well. I like his wife. I think she could do a lot more as First Lady than Bill could in the role and you really are voting for them as a team. Having a great President is all well and good but if they don’t have strong support at home and a partner who’s willing to get out there and improve America, then the “great” President isn’t so effective. I don’t like Oprah’s endorsement of him. Not because she should have supported the female candidate, but because I think she made it more about race than it had been prior to her getting involved. Here’s my main concern with Barack and it does not make me proud of my country: they’re not ready for a black president. It’s not his time. Yes, most Americans would embrace the idea and don’t care what colour he is. But the ones that do? Look out; they’re the dangerous ones. If I were Michelle Obama, I would be afraid for the life of my husband and the father of my young children every time he ventured out. That’s the sad reality of it. Like I said, it pains me to think this, but there it is.
John Edwards? No thanks and here’s why: his wife is dying of breast cancer. Not right now and maybe not even in the next four years. And while I think it’s admirable of them to continue with their lives as though everything was fine, I think it’s dumb. Because at some point, she’s going to be very sick. And his focus would and SHOULD be on her and their very young children. But it wouldn’t be on America and that’s a problem to me.
So there you have it. Barack or Hillary. I go back and forth. Who gets your vote?
Posted by Marissa on October 15th, 2007 Leave a Comment
Make sure to visit http://torontogirlgeekdinners.pbwiki.com/ and sign-up to attend the Toronto Girl Geek Dinner on October 17th.
If you are a female technology student you can attend this event free of charge, as Thornley Fallis Communications and 76design are sponsoring this month’s dinner and are paying for 12 students to attend.
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Marissa on September 26th, 2007 2 Comments
Would it be overly cliché if I said “I’m baaaaaack!”? Probably. But that’s how I feel. I returned to Thornley Fallis at the end of July after being away for six months, exploring other career opportunities in the world of public relations. So why did I come back? Because this is where I belong.
On a basic level, I decided to come back to Thornley Fallis because this place feels like home to me. I enjoy working with my colleagues and clients, and am met everyday with new challenges. These warm and fuzzy feelings translate into the quality of work I deliver and allow me to be a better senior consultant.
It didn’t take very long for me to realize that in order to be satisfied with your job, you need to enjoy working with your colleagues and feel comfortable in your workplace environment.
Now having said that, over the years I have held positions at other companies that had a less than positive work environment. However, I still managed to learn a lot and develop a strong work ethic because of the tough environment.
My six months away from Thornley Fallis (yes, it was at another agency) was a great learning experience – I won’t kid you about that. I learned a lot about the business and about myself and am looking forward to bringing all of that new knowledge to my work here.
I know I may sound like a broken record, but when I get up every morning, I am enthusiastic and happy to be going to work. I feel like I am really part of something great- it feels like I am part of a family.
How about you? Do you think a positive work environment is detrimental to delivering good work to your clients? Or does a tough work environment make for a better PR practitioner?
Posted by Kyra on September 20th, 2007 1 Comment
What do you get when you bring together interesting and approachable women in technology, great food and a lively speaker? Last night’s 2nd Toronto Girl Geek Dinner!
At one of Toronto’s more esoteric meetups, I had the pleasure of meeting some inspiring women (and a couple of guys, too) from fields as diverse as romance literature and robotics.
Why I loved it:
- It was completely acceptable to talk about Facebook at length with people I had just met.
- The food was amazing.
- Leila Boujnane from Idee (last night’s speaker) is a fascinating character and entertaining speaker.
- I think I’ve been convinced to go to a ’shopping class’ on Second Life.
- Wobbly jelly.
I’ll keep you posted on the next event (and we can discuss what I mean by ‘wobbly’).
Posted by Kyra on September 12th, 2007 Leave a Comment
I don’t know if it’s just me, but as the number of my ‘friends’ on Facebook has grown, the less comfortable I’ve become about doing anything on the platform. I haven’t written a ‘note’ all summer and last night I started to think about why.
I tell myself that I’ve been busy and that I’ve been adjusting to my new job … melding my personal and professional personas. But I’m not sure it’s that simple.
Since January, people from all corners of my life (and the globe) have trickled in to my online existence. I joined Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends while I was away. Some people swore against it as I became a resolute fan. I welcomed the social experiment that would surely upset the balance of communication forever and I wanted to know the outcome of it: good or ill.
It’s been exciting to hear from people I haven’t seen in years and to reconnect with people through photos and stories and video. But to try to conceive of them all together is next to impossible. It’s fine if someone else in my network puts up a photo of me in funny glasses, but to create and share something myself is becoming a daunting idea. And I’m sort of dauntless.
I don’t mind when worlds collide a little bit. But two worlds at a time are usually enough. As Joscelyn said the other day, “You’re an open book.”
Is that a bad thing?
