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GRL’s James Powderly Detained in Beijing

Steve Lambert - August 19, 2008

EYEBEAM PRESS RELEASE:
No word from the American artist 24 hours after being taken into Chinese custody.
Powderly was in Beijing to unveil a project made with pro-Tibet activist group.

New York City, August 19, 2008, 7:30PM EST- Artist and Eyebeam alum James Powderly was detained by Chinese authorities in Beijing early Wednesday, according to a message received by Students for a Free Tibet around 5PM Beijing Standard Time, said an SFT spokesperson. The message, sent through the social networking site Twitter, read “held since 3AM”, said friend and SFT board member Nathan Dorjee. Powderly has not been heard from since-more than 24 hours later-and his whereabouts remain unknown, he said.

“Freedom of speech has always been central to James’ practice, and we support this commitment. Most importantly, we hope for his quick release,” said Eyebeam Executive Director Amanda McDonald Crowley. Powderly was a fellow in Eyebeam’s R&D OpenLab in 2005-2006, and a senior fellow in the OpenLab from 2006-2007.

Powderly is also co-founder of the Grafitti Research Lab, a project developed during his fellowship at Eyebeam. He was in Beijing collaborating with the activists to project messages onto the facades of prominent Beijing buildings using a laser beam and stencils. The artist was detained before the planned launch of the project-dubbed the “Green Chinese Lantern”-in which a beam of light would be used to display graphics and text on structures up to two stories high, said Dorjee. It is unclear how Chinese authorities learned of the plan.

Also today, five activists with Students for a Free Tibet were detained after displaying a banner that spelled out “Free Tibet” in LED Throwies, the open source technology pioneered by the Grafitti Research Lab and popularized online and worldwide. This brings the number of SFT protestors detained in Beijing to 42. In the majority of these cases, the individuals were heard from and deported within 6-12 hours of their arrest, said Dorjee.

Upon learning of the detention, fellow artist, collaborator, and current Eyebeam senior fellow Steve Lambert said, “He’s an amazing, entertaining, brilliant, and committed person. Not all of us have the courage to travel to China to make such a statement at a key time like this. He’s a great friend and obviously, like so many others, I’m concerned about his well-being. I hope he’s allowed to return home as soon as possible.”

The L.A.S.E.R. Stencil technology is a modification of the GRL’s L.A.S.E.R. Tag, which was featured in the 2007 Eyebeam exhibition Open City. This portable, updated version is the size of a flashlight, requires one person to operate, and is intended for use with homemade micro-stencils.

Students for a Free Tibet, a group with more than 700 chapters worldwide, has been staging protests in Beijing over the course of the past two weeks. According to Dorjee, who is also the group’s technical advisor, GRL technology was an ideal fit for the spectacle of the Olympics, and called the GRL the “go-to group for open source urban expression”.

For the latest information and images, please visit the website of Students for a Free Tibet. Additional images for download:

The Grafitti Research Lab, with images made using the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil (in the US)
LED Throwies

Additional coverage:

Boing Boing
The Washington Post
Gothamist
Associated Press

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NYT: Coming to Central Park - A 7,500-Square-Foot Mobile Chanel Ad With an Artistic Mission

Steve Lambert -

Several readers of this site forwarded this story to me while I was on vacation. I’ll let you read the whole thing and I’ll pick apart some details below.

Basically Chanel is renting out Central Park for millions of dollars to install a temporary exhibition (the structure is in the photograph above) of artist responses to their handbags called “Mobile Art.” Including the word art in the title is evidence of a defensive posture – Central Park doesn’t have billboards in it for a reason.

The guise of art also enables the city to cite “precedents like Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s ‘Gates’… or the four waterfalls designed by the artist Olafur Eliasson” as if the Chanel promotion were in the same category. Sure cynics can say there’s not much difference between big business and blue chip artists, but to put individual artists in the same classification as a multi-billion dollar company employing nearly one thousand people and retail stores on six continents… is kind of overstating it.

Moving on.

Douglas Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy… and Mr. Benepe (Parks Commissioner) described Chanel’s donation as a windfall for the park. The money will go toward enhancing its horticulture, particularly in the area from 85th Street to the Harlem Meer.

Asked whether he anticipated criticism for allowing Chanel to advertise one of its products in the park, Mr. Benepe countered, “Everything has a sponsor.”

As we’ve discussed before, parks and city infrastructure are what government is for. (The lack of funding and related neglect is what brought about the non-profit Central Park Conservancy to begin with.) This is one of the reasons taxes are good! And why you should fight back when two-thirds of the corporations doing business in the United States don’t pay them. Otherwise we end up relying on a thousand points of light and a corporation on a white horse. When governments cut taxes and/or spend them on unnecessary wars we make shitty deals with corporations giving up the sacredness of our public parks in a desperate attempt to keep them around. That and bridges fail.

And what do we get when we resign ourselves to the statement, “everything has a sponsor”? Anne has written a whole book about it. Inauthentic culture.

“Artists in 17th-century Italy wouldn’t have been in business were it not for their patrons,” he added,

Really? Is that our standard? Our level of success is an over three hundred year old monarchy?

We can do better.


Coming to Central Park - A 7,500-Square-Foot Mobile Chanel Ad With an Artistic Mission - NYTimes.com

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Dangerous Business

Anne Elizabeth Moore - August 18, 2008

Now, I like your freedom of speech as much as the next gal—technically more, probably—but i’m not about to get all up in arms because some ad industry blog has been receiving death threats for discussing a campaign that links government-backed violence, human rights violations, the Olympic Games, and the Chinese government. Especially when journalists, activists, and the Swedish Red Cross have been suffering worse, for years.

The alleged death threats were aimed at “a beyond-a-blog, commercial-laden delirium of heaven and hell for advertising addicts around the world, gossips about advertising stunts and marketing mishaps. The latest advertising news from a creative point of view served fresh daily since 2000″—barf—that builds buzz around such brilliant campaigns as Saatchi and Saatchi’s hilarious and spot-on campaign about human trafficking—in which humans were actually advertised for sale! My god the genius! It’s funny because it’s true! And also because it might have appeared first in the Onion!

The ads, for a Swedish Red Cross campaign, depict citizens being beaten, choked, attacked, and otherwise threatened by allegedly Chinese enforcers. Chinese ad enthusiasts and death-threateners, however, charge that the abusers are actually Nepalese. The images are accompanied by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games logos. Some can be seen here, but because the charming ad blog above has imprinted its own logo on the images, I’m not going to repost. Human rights violations and abuses of activists and journalists have been tied directly to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Apparently the Swedish Red Cross tired of the death threats and opted to remove the images from its own site. Because, one assumes, the Swedish Red Cross isn’t surprised when violating long-held Chinese mandates restricting press freedom results in death threats. But apparently, the ad world is.

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Orbitz Ad: Distinct Lack of Imagination

mandiberg - August 17, 2008

“Michael Kraus saw the alert about the long taxi line. So he called his brother who lives nearby and got a ride home. Now he owes him a turkey sandwich.”

So advertising is about imagining potential futures. It is about hope, and aspirations and dreams. Is getting a ride home from the airport all those ad people could imagine using their service for? How about finding the subway station so they could take public transport. Now that would be something for the “community.”

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Two Weeks Notice

Anne Elizabeth Moore - August 16, 2008

We know you’re probably thinking it’s better to stick with your cushy job in advertising, marketing, or PR. Sure, you’re saying to yourself, there’s more you’d like to do with your life, more you had hoped for, but advertising pays the bills. There’s a retirement program, and they have a fridge with free sodas.

We here at the AAAFFF did some research on second careers. What if Albert Einstein stuck it out with his job as a patent clerk? If Billie Holiday remained a maid who hummed while she worked, or Duke Ellington stayed a peanut vendor at Washington Senators’ games ‘till the day he died? I’m sure Henry Rollins would still be a great manager at Baskin Robbins. And if anarchist/feminist Emma Goldman had been able to keep shoving all her misgivings deep down inside, maybe one day she’d have made manager at that garment factory. Henry Miller, it is rumored, gave up fantastic benefits (the fresh air!) when he left the bike-messenger industry. Barbara Walters, one of the most respected journalists in our lifetimes, was once a publicist. Che Guevara could easily have retired on his income as a doctor.

But where would we be then? And where will we be if you don’t leave your job?

Clearly, the time to act is now. There are only two weeks left to apply for the 2008 AAAFFFA, and to make it just a tiny bit easier for you, we’ve created yet another handy tool for your personal use: The Clip ’n’ Send Letter of Resignation!

To use the Clip ’n’ Send Letter of Resignation, simply replace the text in all-caps with your own information, and send along to your boss, supervisor or HR department.

Don’t forget to BCC the FFF at AntiAdvertisingAgency dot com, and insert flattering comments about us for especial consideration!

The Clip ’n’ Send Letter of Resignation

YOU
YOUR STREET ADDRESS
YOUR CITY STATE AND ZIP CODE
YOUR COUNTRY


THE DATE


THE ADVERTISING, MARKETING, OR PR FIRM WHERE YOU WORK
STREET ADDRESS
CITY STATE ZIP
COUNTRY


Dear Sirs or Madams,

I am writing today to post my two-week’s notice at [YOUR FIRM OR AGENCY].

I can no longer bear to apply my problem-solving skills, creative flair, wit, charm, and hard-won integrity to increase the sales of [HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS/MEDICAL DEVICES/CARDBOARD BOXES] and [ITEMS OF NATIONAL DEFENSE/SODA/ATHLETIC WEAR]. I do appreciate that your excessive dedication to consumer awareness of such goods and services has inspired me lo these many [YEARS/MONTHS/DAYS] and wish you good luck in pursuit of your goal of [X-NUMBER OF DOLLARS SALES INCREASE OVER PREVIOUS YEARS/MARKETPLACE DOMINATION/YEAR-END BONUS LARGE ENOUGH FOR SUMMER HOME DOWN PAYMENT]. I feel sure, somehow, that you can achieve your dreams.

Still, you will have to do so without me. I am a brilliant thinker flush with creative talent interested in changing the world—not changing what it buys. I’m leaving your employ, therefore, and pursuing work [AS A JOURNALIST/IN THE SOCIAL SERVICE SECTOR/OF MY OWN CREATION]. By divorcing my creative output from commercial interests, I am reinvesting in the notion that one person can make a difference. Without corporate backing. These are, after all, the principles that [YOUR COUNTRY] was founded on: freedom and self-determination.

Which brings me to my point. In leaving this position, and the exploitative industry in which it is housed, I am eligible for an exciting new funding initiative from the Anti-Advertising Agency’s Foundation For Freedom. By filling out their AAAFFFA Kit—a short, enjoyable form I urge you to download now—I put myself in the running to:

1) Win accrued funds in the realm now of $700; 2) Be honored at a gala event on September 19; 3) Network with like-minded noncommercial creatives working for real social change; and 4) Receive a giant novelty check. Giant!

The cubicle-mates I will leave behind in two short weeks can attest to my deep-seated and long-held desires to be awarded a giant novelty check. They will be less likely to admit—although we discuss it frequently during smoke breaks, coffee runs, and at the bar—their own deep-seated jealousies that I will be finally leaving this inhumane environment and long-held rage built up by corrupting the public trust for personal profit.

So as eager as I am to leave your employ, I have no desire to discontinue our working relationship. Please, won’t you join me in going after a creative world-changing work environment unhindered by obsessive profit tallies, occasionally dishonest claims, and regular violations of state and federal laws?

I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely, [YOUR NAME]

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“The reason I have eyeballs is because of my irreverence.”

Emily Gallagher - August 15, 2008

Emily returns with another in our series on mommy bloggers!

Today the New York Times reports on a “trend” of women bloggers as a target for advertising.

Advertisers are betting that the trust and intimacy that come from talking about sex after motherhood or reading about a blogger’s battle with postpartum depression will translate into sales of products discussed on a site or simply advertised alongside the personal stories.

Yes, of course, we’ll solve our relationship and emotional problems with knick-knacks and shampoo. A time-tested, advertiser approved solution!

While there are many disturbing quotes from this article, including the one I’ve used as the title to this post, I’ll leave you with an uplifting one. There is one group of women who are consistently foiling advertisers… the feminists!

“We tried pure news, and sometimes it doesn’t work,” said Brandon Holley, Shine’s editor in chief. Ms. Holley was most recently editor in chief of Jane, the Condé Nast women’s magazine that closed in July 2007. Jane struggled with the same problem — how to offer an irreverent, feminist take on women’s topics — and ultimately failed to attract advertisers.

Wait, are they meaning to tell us that women with insight into systems of oppression and a sense of self-worth aren’t into advertising? I wonder why that is.

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At least they learn young

Steve Lambert - August 14, 2008

thanks for the tip, Toban.

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Municipal Art Society - OUTRAGE! Nasty Newsracks

Steve Lambert -

New video from the Municipal Art Society:



YouTube - OUTRAGE! Nasty Newsracks

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Buenos Aires to Remove 40 Thousand Billboards to Fight Visual Pollution

Steve Lambert - August 12, 2008

this just in from Treehugger (thanks Sam!)

(Photo: alex-s.) The Buenos Aires government and a group of advertising associations have agreed to remove 40 thousand billboards that are infracting the city’s code, Clarin newspaper informed. This represents about 60% of the total amount of billboards.

This agreement is part of a government plan to put in order outdoor advertising in Buenos Aires, which includes modifications to the advertising code to establish areas in the city and authorize different types of signs according to the neighborhoods’ characteristics. The government’s goals are to reduce visual pollution, improve the neighbors life quality and prevent accidents.

Even though visual might not be the worst pollution the city has to deal with, the amount of signs that have emerged during the last years and the dangers some of them represent make this plan a step in the right direction. More details and images of how the city would look like, in the extended.

Via Clarin newspaper.

Read More »

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“We’re All Going To Die,” Industry Laments . . . Again

Anne Elizabeth Moore -

An article in yesterday’s AdAge titled “Ad Skipping? Just Wait. It’s Going to Get Worse.” bemoans last week’s US Court of Appeals ruling that would allow—oh, it’s bad—”network DVR” technology, essentially allowing viewers at home to watch whatever they want on cable, whenever they want to watch it, without buying any fancy new equipment or boxes.

(This used to be considered a right, noncommercial media, on the theory that broadcasts took place in public space, and needed to give back to the public good because of it. That’s recently been abandoned, notably by NPR and PBS, because it’s not profitable.)

The danger, of course—or as we at-home viewers like to call it, the benefit—is that you can skip every ad.

Oh, but that’s not how the ad industry sees it. Barely concealing threats to the “media conglomerates” that, the story raves, make such excellent use of ad revenue now, and referring to the technology as “invasive”, “penetrative”, and “great cause for concern,” the article goes on to provide some of the most hilarious quotes I’ve ever read outside of a joke book.

“Consumers, now accustomed to watching shows as they wish,” the piece contends, suffer from an “ad-skipping addiction.”

John Senior, a partner at Oliver Wyman, seems baffled. “They don’t want to watch commercials, but they won’t pay to not watch commercials.”

Oh. My. God.: How are they supposed to make a buck if we refuse to give them any?

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NYC: Pandamonium

Steve Lambert -

Pandamonium is a costumed, roving, street party, apocalyptic, dance, rock, battle. Saturday August 16th, Meetup 8:30 pm Union Square NYC!

This comes from several trusted sources. Everything else about it is secret. Have some fun on Saturday before summer ends and it’s too cold to roam around the city dancing in a panda constume with your boombox tuned to pirate radio. More info.

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I’m not going to link to it

mandiberg - August 11, 2008

I’m not going to link to it, because if I do, they win.

There is a mock-scandalous advertisement out there for cologne, or underwear, (or cologne-and-underwear) that has some actress showing some nipple. They submitted it for TV, got rejected, and are now all mock-righteous.

OF COURSE IT WAS GOING TO BE REJECTED! That was the whole plan. And then a bunch of bloggers would write about it, and the YouTube video would get millions of free impressions. Cheap advertising.

Which is why I’m not going to link to it.

But I will say that I slowed it down to check, so you didn’t have to, and frankly the web video quality was so crappy that I couldn’t even see the nipple. Maybe on HDTV (but it ain’t ever gonna get on HDTV…) So it is double hype.

N.B. this is the first AAA post tagged “sex.” Steve, how did that happen?

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Join Us!

Steve Lambert - August 10, 2008

Join us!

Join us!

It’s just 3 weeks until the deadline for the 1st Annual AAAFFFA (Anti-Advertising Agency Foundation For Freedom Award). You could be the winner of over $700 in cash, a giant check, and a career of freedom! All you have to do is quit your job in advertising and use those wonderful talents you’ve developed for something more worthwhile! Download our application form! (It’s fun to read!)

What’s that? Not in advertising or marketing? You can donate! How much would you pay to see some frustrated cog at Ogilvy up and quit to work for the Sierra Club?

Applications are due September 1st!

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So why can they sell the street?

Steve Lambert - August 9, 2008


This is an amazing interview with Tom14 which illustrates the important link between street art and community. It speaks to the destruction of public space and street arts role in defying what many consider the inevitable “progression” of neighborhoods away from what community members consider their home. To interact with your environment is to stake claim to the ways in which it is used, and to renegotiate the power structure which determines its fate.

via: Public Ad Campaign

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Pay-for-Play, the Print Edition

Anne Elizabeth Moore - August 8, 2008

We’ve known for decades that intimacy breeds favorable news reportage—thus debates in the 1970s over journalists fraternizing with government officials—but according to Democracy Now, a new report by PRWeek finds that 20% of the marketing executives surveyed bought ads in return for sympathetic stories in 2008. (Almost half that also bought gifts or paid editors in exchange for flattering coverage.)

The implication, of course, is that the journalists accepted these gifts—although I’d be hesitant to accept PR Week’s version of the story. Too bad no one else is covering this important issue!

In a totally unrelated story (ha ha), PR executives in this week’s issue are urged to view recent print media layoffs as hiring opportunities. Or as it is sometimes called, community-building.

UPDATE ON ALL THIS MOMMY BLOGGING BUSINESS: We first started looking into the issue here and now it seems some mommies are beginning to demand compensation for their public awareness work. After all, it’s big business, according to Katie Couric (although it must be noted: not Couric the journalist, Couric the paid spokesperson). Why shouldn’t the moms doing the work benefit?: [Watch the video of Katie Couric for BlogHer here.]

—Thanks James David and Veronica Arreola</a>!

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