(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
In collaboration with MTV, Volkswagen is about to launch a 3 week-long lifestyle event in Copenhagen to promote the newest and youngest member of its family - the VW Fox.
The event, which is called 'Project Fox', brings together young hip designers, artists and cooks who have been invited to develop and implement their creative ideas at three 3 unique locations: a hotel, a factory building and an old warehouse. These locations will form a collective gastronomic and artistic stage for the public introduction of the VW Fox. 800 European journalists have been invited to witness the event that kicks off on April 2nd.
One of the more interesting aspects about the event and the locations, is the hotel, which has been totally redesigned by 21 different artists. Each of the 61 rooms will be a unique artwork in itself. Somewhat like Hotel Winston in Amsterdam.
The plan is that Hotel FOX will live on after the event is over.
• www.project-fox.org • Hotel Fox
Last year the Swedish Social Ministry launched a web, print and video campaign called Flicka (girl) that attacks the moral of mass media.
A survey shows that every 4th girl feel under pressure by the media's beauty ideals, and the aim of the public campaign is to educate young girls about the techniques and effects of advertising and thus help them to think critically.
One of the campaign's video ads is shaped as a sexist music video featuring semi-nude women washing a car. Suddenly, one of them confronts the camera and asks "what is this, why do most videos look this way?". The viewers are then invited to pick up the phone and call the CEO of Universal Music in Sweden and ask him the question. His name and phone numer is shown on the screen. The local commercial broadcast stations TV3 and TV4 have refused to air this and another similar video.
Additionally, a recent interactive web ad illustrates the other (real) side of magazine-covers. The front side of a Metropolitan cover shows a typical photo of a young girl but by clicking the image it gradually reveals how it has been retouched and manipulated in order to meet the standard media beauty ideal. One of the headlines read: 69 clicks from sexbomb to normal.
The videos can be seen by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
Posted by Sebastian on Mar 09, 2005
To promote itself, a UK based volenteer-organization has designed a hoax website called the National Job Rejection Database that pretends to be the result of a 15 year data collection exercise involving all UK employers.
If you have taken a job application to interview stage and been unsuccessful, you can search the database for specific feedback from the employer.
Meanwhile, after you enter some personal information you will be told that you were rejected because you didn't show evidence of volenteering on your CV", followed by: "Just Kidding! we made up the NJRD. But volunteer work really is a great way to improve your CV."
Reposado is a Mexican Hotel / Lounge / Restaurant that has become internationally known for its music.
But unlike the hip Paris concept Buddha Bar, the people at Reposado do not produce anything themselves. Instead, they are running an online radio station that streams a blend of Mexican, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Jazz, Tango, Funk, House etc. 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, due its success Radio Reposado is often fully booked by global listeners.
As a way of engaging a younger audience in its activities, Greenpeace is devoting a section of its site to educational and politically loaded games.
The collection of games blend visual cuteness with hard-core activism, such as the 'Stop Whaling!' game in which the objective is to board a whaling ship in order to protect whales from being harpooned (Although nobody is credited, Futurefarmers looks to be the creative minds behind some of the games.)
Greenpeace is also engaged in strategic activist websites for older target groups, such as Exxon-Screts.com which is a playful visualization tool that exposes Exxon Mobil's funding of supposedly independent' organizations that work against solutions to climate change.
BodyBillboardz.com is a recently launched website that attempts to capitalize on the current body-advertising trend by mediating contact between advertisers and people willing to rent advertising space on their bodies.
The website appears to appeal especially to money hungry college students trying to earn a little extra cash.
Via categories such as advertising space for rent on head, chest, arm and belly, interested companies - or curious surfers - can review the member's personal profiles and, more importantly, their portraits.
On behalf of its client 3M, a Canadian advertising agency has created a 3 dimensional bus shelter billboard to promote a new security glass product.
The billboard construction, which is made of the very same material that it promotes, is transparent and contains what appears to be real money up for grabs to anyone who can break the glass.
The billboard was only up for a day and half and was strategically placed in front of the agency's own office, closely monitored by security guards across the street - just in case the publicity stunt would get out of hand...
It's hardly a secret that Email (the killer-app of the 90's) and SMS (the killer app of the 00's) has reduced the need for standard postal services such as letters and postcards (the killer-apps before the late 90's).
But now, a Swiss initiative is trying to take advantage of the synergy between the digital and physical communication technologies rather than viewing them as separate entities.
The Swiss post office, Swisscom mobile and the museum for communication has introduced the world's first MMS self-service stamp. Users are encouraged to MMS their own pictures to a website where people can vote for their favorites by SMS. The 4 most popular motifs will be produced as genuine stamps.
The motto of the initiative is 'Swiss mobil - Ein Land unterwegs' / 'Swiss Mobile - A Country on the Go'.
The VisibleFood project is a website and database created to give researchers as well as potential consumers an overview of political and environmental issues related to certain food products.
The database is searchable by product, brand, company, ingredient or toxin and enables users to look up such things as a company's labour politics or whether a product is likely to contain genetically modified organisms etc.
VisibleFood is designed as an open content system that allows users to submit new information to the database (although the website is not yet fully functional).
20 year old Andrew Fischer has sold advertising space on his forehead for $37,375.00.
The ad-space was sold to the company 'SnoreStop' through an auction on eBay. The ad is non-permanent and after 30 days it will be removed from his forehead and made available again to the highest bidder.
A similar eBay auction was put-up by swimsuit model Shaune Bagwell, who managed to sell ad-space on her chest for $15,099.00 to the internet casino GoldenPalace.com.
• humanadspace.com • shaunebagwell.com
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Contact: Sebastian Campion