Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Advertising and silver

Since 2001, Swiss-based not-for-profit organisation ACT Responsible (Advertising Community Together), has been collecting global advertising that 'promotes responsible communication on sustainability, equitable development and social responsibility' in a bid to highlight how the creativity of advertising professionals can be used to address the world's problems.

Among its 2,500 ads from more than 40 countries and 140 award-winning agencies is a striking collection of adverts that focus on environmental and social issues: from deforestation to recycling and conserving water to climate change.

What I think is striking about these ads, apart from their messages, is the way in which they show how modern art (with Salvador Dali as one of the prime movers in this case) has been thoroughly accepted by advertisement viewers. Every one of these ads takes an idea and gives it a surreal twist, often in a humorous way. I suspect Dali would have delighted in the being able to photoshop; it would have given him stimulation even beyond his normal super-charged brain. (Talking of photoshop - in the play, When We Are Married, that I did back in May, there was a line spoken to my character: Why don't you take that little photo shop down in Blackpool again? I always wanted to laugh at this point, but the audience never seemed to get the unintended pun.

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